Integrating Africanised play into digital learning of mathematics in the foundation phase
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.23917/jramathedu.v10i2.6342Keywords:
Africanised play, digital learning, mathematical skills, Vygotsky's sociocultural theoryAbstract
Africanised play is a pedagogical transformation that stresses integrating play pedagogies, African culture and digital learning within mathematical curriculum. This transformation contributes to learners developing problem-solving, mathematical, digital skills and appreciating culture. Given that, there still needs to be more knowledge on the integration of Africanised play into digital mathematics learning. This study is underpinned by Vygotsky's sociocultural theory, which argues that educators can use applications of the zone of proximal development and integrate cultural tools, mediated learning and social interaction to teach mathematics. The hermeneutic phenomenology research design was employed in a qualitative study. Data was generated using semi-structured interviews, document analysis, and non-participant observations from twelve educators from four primary schools in Limpopo. These educators were selected through homogenous purposive sampling. The data was analysed through interpretative phenomenological analysis on NVivo 12. The findings indicated that African games that integrate digital learning can teach counting, mathematical and problem-solving skills to Foundation Phase learners. However, there is a challenge of limited digital tools and experiences of planning lessons and implementations in their classrooms. This paper contributes the pedagogical and theoretical strategies of integrating Africanised play into digital learning of mathematics in the foundation phase.
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