The emergence of semiotic reflection through a multimodal approach to teaching and learning in a grade 1 Mathematics classroom
Abstract
We are currently living in an era in which most learners are exposed to aspects of technology that affect their lives outside of school on a daily basis. The current generation is growing up in an era characterised by a multimodal approach to information dissemination, leaning more towards the utilisation of images and the screen as the source and expression of information. Because of this shift from the book or text to the image or screen metaphor, the educational fraternity needs to take cognisance of the fundamentally new understanding of communication, knowledge and information processing brought about by these various technologies and the consequential impact thereof on teaching and learning. This research has the overall focus to investigate the emergent relationships between the multitude of semiotic modes of production that can be presented to and utilised by learners to become mathematically literate via a multimodal approach to teaching and learning, while being vigilant about the possibilities of transferring this knowledge to other domains of literacy, such as language or scientific literacy. The ability to engage with content in a reflective way, while utilising the overall semiotic challenges of the content with the ensuing agency that is required to achieve success, is of fundamental importance in education. The complexity of the average South African primary school classroom, which reflects a diversity of socio-economic and cultural differences, poses an enormous challenge to both teacher and learners, when dealing with the teaching of a content domain that relies on the capacity of learners to make sense of a multitude of signs and symbols in the context of mathematics. Some of the major findings emphasise the importance of the early development of semiotic reflection as coupled to visualisation in the process of sensemaking, not only of mathematics, but also of verbal reasoning and reading skills.
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