Abstract
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and the resulting school closures in South Africa necessitated a major shift in how to support learners’ ongoing mathematics learning. For 10 weeks learners were strictly confined to their homes with restrictions that prohibited seeing any person outside of their household. The only means to access learners and parents in their homes was to reimagine our South African Numeracy Chair Project work and transform it from predominantly face-to-face interventions to digital modalities. As a result, we initiated a project of digital resource development and distribution, particularly focused on our local community in the Eastern Cape. Twenty-two existing resources and 36 purpose-designed resources were shared via Facebook. Through in-depth post hoc reflection of the rapid digitalisation of our materials and ways of working we address these questions: (1) In relation to learners’ new ‘ecology of learning’ during lockdown what digital access modality and platforms were most fit-for-purpose in sharing mathematics learning resources? (2) What principles informed resource design and adaptation for digital distribution and use? (3) What dilemmas were confronted in making decisions about resource design and distribution?. These questions are answered through a document review and post hoc reflections on the noted dilemmas. We share some feedback received and discuss implications of our work and the dilemmas confronted for the provision of quality digital resources for supporting mathematics learning in historically disadvantaged and under-resourced communities in a post pandemic world.
Highlights
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and the resulting school closures in South Africa necessitated a major shift in how to imagine providing support for learners’ ongoing mathematics learning
As of 29 April 2020, distribution of teaching and learning support materials was classified as an essential service (RSA, 2020d), which enabled more direct support to be provided to homes
While this article presents a somewhat different type of research data, it aims to capture our response as mathematics educators to a very particular moment in education in South Africa, when we needed to completely reimagine how we worked to support learners in their mathematics learning
Summary
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and the resulting school closures in South Africa necessitated a major shift in how to imagine providing support for learners’ ongoing mathematics learning. Schools were closed from 18 March 2020, initially for a period ending on 14 April 2020. It was further extended to April 2020, and again extended with slightly fewer restrictions (Stage 4) to May 2020. This meant that for 5 weeks all learners were strictly confined to their homes (Republic of South Africa [RSA], 2020a). Schools remained closed for a further 5 weeks with restrictions remaining in place that prohibited learners from seeing any person outside of their household (Spaull & Van der Berg, 2020). The strict regulations on movement of people during this time meant that no project or person could reach learners and parents in their homes to distribute much-needed numeracy and literacy learning resources
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