An exploration into Grade 3 learners’ mathematical proficiencies as seen using the Mental Starters Assessment Project (MSAP) and the Learning Framework in Number (LFIN)

Abstract

South African learners are consistently underperforming in mathematics, and it appears as if this downward trend is not changing. Much research has been undertaken in recent years in search of possible solutions to remedy this dire situation. Part of this foci into research has led to the formulation and development of the Mental Starters Assessment Project (MSAP) through a collaborative process from various stakeholders from Wits Math’s Connect-Primary Team, Rhodes University and Gauteng Depart of Education (GDE). This current study forms part of that broader research focusing on possible solutions to the challenges faced by Foundation Phase learners. And what started simply as an effort to assess grade three learners' Additive Reasoning strategies through a two- week mental mathematics intervention study morphed into a study with a much broader focus. While starting and conducting the study with that single focus, I became aware of more significant implications that ultimately led me to expand the area of focus. As such when I completed the MSAP intervention, I then proceeded to assess six of the learners from the same sample through conducting interviews with them based on the Learning Framework in Number. The LFIN is an assessment tool developed by Wright et al. (2006) as an intervention model to remediate underperforming learners. When I completed that aspect of the study, I was further intrigued with the findings that it yielded in that the learners with the highest gains in the MSAP correlated with the learners demonstrating high levels of mathematical proficiencies in the LFIN as they were located on the higher stages of the SEAL. And the learners with the lowest to no gains in the MSAP correlated with the learners in the LFIN that demonstrated an over-reliance on concrete forms of counting as being located on the lower levels of the SEAL. As such, this study's findings seem to indicate a strong correlation between the MSAP and the LFIN. The implications for the South African Foundation Phase mathematics classroom are that the MSAP is easier to administer than the LFIN and requiring no specialized skill and can be ii administered nationally. Although the findings of this study were insightful and exciting more research is needed to verify these findings. It has however created an awareness that there is an alternative other than the LFIN that is more suitable for the South African context in the form of the MSAP.