CHAPTER 5: DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS
5.2 Presentation of data under themes drawn from responses by teachers, lesson observations and the
5.2.3 Background factors
5.2.3.6 Gender as a background factor related to the teaching of critical thinking skills to young learners
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both their homes and teachers could be the reason learners did not explicitly display critical thinking skills during the teaching of mathematics. This is corroborated by the following table:
Table 5.8: Learner encouragement used to reinforce during the teaching of mathematics Grade/level Behaviour(s) captured
ECD A Teacher: “Write while speaking so that it becomes clear that you know.”
ECD B Teacher: “When you speak, speak lively so that I see that you are clever.”
Grade 1 Teacher: “Read the question before raising your hands.”
Grade 3 Teacher: “Read the problem several times before attempting the problem.”
The findings reveal that there was lack of reinforcement to enhance young learners’ critical thinking skills. Teachers who encourage learners during the teaching of mathematics reinforce
91 Teacher 5: …all learners are the same…
Teacher 6: …whether a boy or a girl they have equal intelligence to think critically…
Teacher 7: …gender does not affect critical thinking…
Teacher 8: …we make boys and girls sit together or play together…
Teacher 9: …in modelling we make them mould the same model to avoid segregation…
Teacher 10: …we teach them in the same way…
Teacher 11: …boys and girls take up duties in groups even sweeping…
Teacher 12: …boys and girls also think equally the same…
Teacher 13: …they should learn the same subjects…
Teacher 14: …teaching strategies or content used should cater for diverse needs despite of gender…
The interview transcript data reveals that most teachers do not consider gender differences in their teaching of mathematics since young learners of both sexes are given the same activities and learn the same content. Observations of mathematics lessons showed that there is no subject matter meant for either boys or girls only. There is no evidence in the presented data to show that boys are better critical thinkers than girls neither does it show that girls are better critical thinkers than boys.
The transcript data from interviews also indicate different views that teachers hold about critical thinking in young boys and girls. The results of the current research have no evidence consistent with the perceptions held about boys and girls by some of the teachers as in the excerpts that follow:
Teacher 15: …boys getting exposed to a variety of activities…
Teacher 16: …restricts that boys are supposed to do this while girls are not supposed to do it…
Teacher 17: …learners should be rated the same …
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Teacher 18: …hindering girls such that critical thinking skills do not develop fast in girls…
Teacher 19: …naturally boys and girls are different … Teacher 22: …boys are better thinkers than girls…
Teacher 23: …in grade 1-3 girls are more intelligent than boys…
Teacher 24: …boys start displaying intelligence in upper grades (grade 4-7)…
Teacher 25: …teachers not considering gender when teaching…
The teaching culture in the current research did not display any gender differences in terms of teaching critical thinking during mathematics teaching. Lesson observations also indicated that young learners are given the same tasks and no teacher displayed any behaviour showing differentiation in terms of gender during the teaching of mathematics or facilitation of mathematical activities.
Table 5.9: Gender sensitivity displayed during the teaching of mathematics
Grade/level Behaviour(s) captured Cultural aspect(s) emerging
ECD A 3-4 years
Teacher: “We join hands even with boys to make a circle, it does not matter. Tindo get hold of that boy’s hand we learn together.”
Learner: Had said “Aaah, don’t touch may hand you are a boy.”
Socialised at home that girls should not play with boys.
The socialisation that boys and girls should not play together has been shown in the presented data obtained from video analysis. In social constructivism, social interaction is expected amongst learners of different sexes so that scaffolding takes place. Development of critical thinking in young children is likely to take place as young learners interact amongst themselves in carrying out mathematics tasks without considering gender.
There is a sense that globalization has become so strong that individual countries cannot circumvent its impact. Zimbabwe, like other African countries, has become part of a global village where a lot of changes are taking place. Mpofu (2013) contends that globalisation has intensified
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poverty, created unemployment and promoted social integration in the majority of developing countries including Zimbabwe. The effects of globalisation include a shift from how girls used to be differentiated from their male counterpart in terms of educational opportunities. In the Zimbabwean context, boys used to be given first preference in enrolment, fees payment and other resources needed at school. The excerpts that follow indicate teachers’ views concerning a paradigm shift from gender differentiation in fostering critical thinking skills in young learners:
Teacher 1: …gender used to affect girls…
Teacher 2: …gender, these days is no longer affecting much…many people are equalising boys and girls
The views given by teachers in interviews are in line with the observations made during the teaching of mathematics. The way teachers conducted their lessons, activities given and nomination of learners to give answers did not show any gender differentiation. Young learners of both sexes therefore had equal opportunities to develop critical thinking skills during mathematics teaching.
The interview transcripts indicate that, in the modern world, the focus tends to shift from where boys were given first preference in terms of going to school or fees payment to valuing the girl child. The responses from interview transcripts indicate that there is a mixed feeling on age as a factor related to the teaching of critical thinking skills to young learners. The following are the views provided by teachers in response to how age relates to the teaching of critical thinking skills to young boys and girls.
Teacher 3: …usually young learners do not know the difference between a boy and a girl…
Teacher 2: …girls drop mathematics especially at secondary level…
Based on the given views, age difference between boys and girls relates to the teaching of critical thinking skills to young learners and should be considered in the teaching of mathematics so as to foster critical thinking skills in learners of both sexes. It has been deduced from this particular research study that age difference does not affect the development of young learners’ critical thinking skills until such a time when they are at secondary school.
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5.2.4 Activities that may foster critical thinking skills to young learners during the teaching