Page 24 - Professorial Lecture - Prof Kasanda

Streams. The Calculus 1 and 2 situation still needs to be addressed”
(Department of Mathematics, 2015).

At the University of Namibia, possible solutions have been suggested and
implemented in an effort to improve the students’ performance in
Mathematics, some with moderate success while others have not been so
successful. One implemented “solution” to perennial low pass rates in first
year mathematics is the introduction of a “slow stream” in 2011 in the
Faculty of Science in which first year students who “fail” the entry test
take the same content taken by those who “pass” this test take in one
semester over one year. The question is whether we have made a dent in
the passing of mathematics by these “slow stream” students. The results
(Table 2(a) to 2(e)) do not seem to bear evidence to this effect. Even
though there are some bright spots as far as performance in mathematics
is concerned in 2012 and 2014 the performance is generally poor. The
question remains, why do we have such low achievement rates in this
subject when we have highly qualified teachers in our schools and
lecturers at our University? The answer is not that simple. Nonetheless, it
may be due to a combination of factors, such as in how we teach
Mathematics to our students and view mathematics, lack of instructional
materials, poor student motivation, constant failure or fear of failure, lack
of parental involvement and encouragement of learners in studying
mathematics, large classes, and several other factors, which negatively
impact effective teaching and learning of mathematics. Siegel, and Borasi
(1996, p. 201) note that “Mathematics textbooks, pedagogical practices,
and patterns of classroom discourse, especially, work in concert to
perpetuate the idea that mathematics is the ‘discipline of certainty’. They
further note that “Together with a behaviourist view of learning, this myth
has led students and teachers (lecturers) alike to reduce mathematical
learning to the acquisition of ready-made algorithms and proofs through
listening, memorizing, and practicing (p. 201)”. Ali (2013, p. 905) provides

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