Open for submissions: Special Collection to be published in the South African Journal of Childhood Education
Open for submissions: Special Collection to be published in the South African Journal of Childhood Education
We invite authors to participate in the Special Collection to be published in South African Journal of Childhood Education (SAJCE), an open access scholarly journal published by AOSIS.
Title: Mental Mathematics for Number sense in the Early Grades
Guest Editors: Mellony Graven, Hamsa Venkat, Corin Mathews and Lise Westaway
Deadline for submissions: 30 November 2023
Introduction
Developing number sense through mental mathematics strategies is of interest internationally. In South Africa, there is a widely acknowledged ‘crisis’ in developing number sense in primary schools, where persistent unit counting dominates well into the middle grades. Number sense and early number learning outcomes have been further exacerbated in the Covid-related disruptions to schooling. The international research base points to flexible mental mathematics and mental calculation strategies as key mechanisms for building powerful number sense. In this context, there is increasing South African and regional research and development focused on supporting the teaching and learning of number sense and mental strategies.
This work includes interventions in pre-service primary mathematics teacher education across multiple institutions on research and implementation of interventions seeking to understand and develop knowledge of, and practice with, mental mathematics strategies for number sense. It also includes recent swathes of interventions in schools focused on supporting in-service teachers to teach mental strategies for number sense. There is also increasing international interest, in a time of growing migration, in how to build strong mathematical foundations for increasingly diverse learner populations grounded in a strong number sense. Given this, there is considerable interest, across researchers, locally and internationally, in various conceptions of mental mathematics for number sense, in initiatives to support teaching and learning related to these foci, and experiences and outcomes of participants in these endeavours.
Objective
This Special Issue seeks to capture the momentum in this important research area and collate some of its findings and outcomes. We invite theoretical and empirical papers that focus on mental mathematics for number sense in the early grades (i.e. Grades R, 1, 2, 3 and 4). While Grade 4 is not part of the Foundation Phase curriculum we have included it as papers might speak to mental mathematics in the transition across Foundation to Intermediate Phase.
Recommended Topics
We invite theoretical and empirical papers that focus on mental mathematics for number sense in the early grades (i.e. Grades R, 1, 2, 3 and 4). While Grade 4 is not part of the Foundation Phase curriculum we have included it as papers might speak to mental mathematics in the transition across Foundation to Intermediate Phase.
Manuscript Information
Manuscript contributions may consist of the following:
- Manuscript submissions should be in English.
- Original Research articles must fully comply with the journal submission guidelines for manuscripts. (maximum 8000 words, 60 or less, adhere to the Harvard referencing style)
Interested authors must consult the journal’s guidelines for manuscript submissions at sajce.co.za.
How to submit your article
To submit your article to the South African Journal of Childhood Education (SAJCE), please visit sajce.co.za. When you submit the article, select the ‘Mental Mathematics for Number sense in the Early Grades’ as the article type. The submission portal will be accessible on sajce.co.za after login in with your personal user credentials. For more details on the submission procedure, go to https://bit.ly/3JNUSLY. All submissions will undergo anonymous review to guarantee high scientific quality and relevance to the subject. The final decision regarding acceptance/revision/rejection will be based on the reviews received from the reviewers and at the sole discretion of the Editor-in-Chief, Elizabeth Henning.
All submissions of abstracts and inquiries should be directed to the attention of:
- Mellony Graven – graven@ru.ac.za
- Hamsa Venkat – venkat@dcu.ie
- Corin Mathews – mathews@wits.ac.za
- Lise Westaway – westaway@ru.ac.za
Open for submissions: Special Collection to be published in the South African Journal of Childhood Education
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