Brombacher & Assoc

about brombacher

Brombacher and Associates is an education support company that specialises in the areas of Mathematics and Mathematical Literacy from primary school to college level.

We work in three key areas:

·Training: We support and train teachers and college lecturers to teach Mathematics and Mathematical Literacy.

·Materials development: We develop teaching support materials and curriculum to meet the requirements of our clients and their setting.

·Research: We conduct research for our clients on interventions and/or the state of teaching/learning in contexts and make recommendations on improvements.

Our clients include: departments of education (both national and provincial); non-government organisations (NGOs); universities; schools and colleges and education foundations to name a few.
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In-service courses for Numeracy and Mathematics Teachers

CTLI logo

The Western Cape Education Department (WCED) has in 2010 again awarded Brombacher and Associates a contract to present two In-service course for Senior Phase Mathematics Teachers at the Cape Teaching and Leadership Institute (CTLI).  Brombacher and Associates has presented (Foundation Phase, Intermediate Phase and Senior Phase) in-service training courses for the WCED at the CTLI since 2003. Each course is four weeks long and runs over two blocks of two weeks each.  Up to 56 teachers participate in each course.

Participants on the course must follow the "read more" link below to access their computer task.

PERSONAL INFORMATION SHEET (click here to download)

All participants must download the personal information sheet and complete this on the computer before printing it out.  This information sheet must be handed in to the facilitator at the end of the session.

FOUNDATION PHASE and INTERMEDIATE PHASE TEACHERS

Download each of the following worksheet templates and by adding grade appropriate numbers and/or operations to the template develop workheets for use in your classroom. 

You may be asked to print out each worksheet that you develop and to use a ball point pen to complete the worksheet, filling in the answers that you would expect your students to provide.

Pyramids I (English) (Afrikaans) (Xhosa)

Number chains (English) (Afrikaans) (Xhosa)

Flow diagrams (English) (Afrikaans) (Xhosa)

Pyramids II (English) (Afrikaans) (Xhosa)

Templates - for those who are confident in their use of the computer: download this sheet with templates and by cutting and pasting make your own worksheet/activity card (sheet of templates). 


SENIOR PHASE TEACHERS

To be proficient in mathematics requires that individuals should be confident problem solvers.  In order to develop problem solving skills children need toe opportunity to solve many problems - and non-routine problems in particular.

In addition to helping children develop their problem solving skills in general, solving non-routine problems can also help children to develop their mathematical knowledge and skills.

In this task, Senior Phase course participants must develop a worksheet with at least 2 or 3 non-routine problems that are appropriate for their classes.  The rationale behind this task is two fold - firstly, the task exposes teachers to the internet as a resource of non-routine problems and, secondly it provides teachers with the opportunity to develop a worksheet of non-routine problems that they will administer in their classes as part of the Take Home Task for the in-service course.

PART 1 of the task: Download an example of a worksheet (click here to download) with two non-routine problems, solve the problems, complete the worksheet and print it out.  The printout must be handed in as part of the portfolio of evidence for the course.

PART 2 of the task: Develop a worksheet with at least two non-routine problems that are appropriate for the children in the class taught by the course participant.  The problems used must be sourced from the internet and the source acknowledged on the worksheet.  The worksheet as well as a handwritten set of solutions for the problems on the worksheet must be handed in as part of the portfolio of evidence for the course.

The two problems on the sample worksheet were sourced at the following sites.  These sites should be regarded as a starting point in the search for finding problems to be included on the worksheet.
  • Grace Church School's ABACUS International Math Challenge
    • The International Math Challenge is open to any child, anywhere in each of three age groups.  Eight problems are posted each month in each age group. Children are asked not only to solve the problems but also to present the reasoning in their solutions. 
    • Go to the website and click on the "Problem Archive" to search for problems that are suitable for your worksheet. (ABACUS Math Challenge)
  • The NRICH Project
    • The NRICH Project has as its aim to enrich the mathematical experiences of all learners. On the project website are thousands of their free mathematics enrichment materials (problems, articles and games) for teachers and learners from ages 5 to 19 years. All the resources are designed to develop subject knowledge, problem-solving and mathematical thinking skills. (The NRICH Project)
    • Go to the website and click on the "stage links" at the top of the page next to "This month" to go to a range of "problems of the month".  At the bottom of each problem you will find tags that link you to more problems in a range of different categories.
    • The "For Teachers" link on teh right hand side of the home page provides access to a range of excisting resources for teachers.

A very useful discussion on PROBLEM SOLVING STRATEGIES can be found at this website.  It is recommended that all participants spend some time studying the contents of this website. (click here)

Excel graphing activity I For the computer session dealing with drawing data graphs using Excel you will first need need to download a sheet with data. (click here)

Excel graphing activity II For the computer session dealing with the investigation of functions and their transformations you will first need need to download a sheet with the function generator. (click here)

GENERALRESOURCES FOR NUMERACY/MATHEMATICS TEACHERS ON THE INTERNET

When you have finished your other tasks please spend some time searching through these websites and the links they provide.

  • AMESA (The Association for Mathematics Education of South Africa)
    • AMESA is the professional association for Mathematics education in South Africa.  Go to this website and explore some of the resources on offer and the links provided. (go to AMESA)
  • MALATI (Mathematics Learning and Teaching Initiative)
    • MALATI was a project that ran the late 1990s and which developed a wide range of teaching resources for the South African numeracy/mathematics classroom. Go to this website to examine some of the materials and to explore some of teh links to other resources provided here.  (go to MALATI)
  • AMESA 4 - 7 Challenge
    • The AMESA 4 - 7 Challenge is an annual mathematics challenge for Grade 4 to 7 leaners.  Go to this website to view some past papers and to read more about the competion.  You may want to enter the learners at your school! The past papers that can be downloaded from this site provide a wonderful range of problems that you can use in your teaching. (go to 4 to 7 Challenge)
  • MATH FORUM
    • The Math Forum provides a wonderful range of resources for teachers of Numeracy/mathematics at all levels.  While visiting the site you might like to try the "Problem of the Week" in addition to the many other resources available there. (go to Math Forum)
  • ON LINE MATHEMATICS ACTIVITIES
    • You have visited the rest, now go to this site and explore the many activities that are available for learners to practice their numeracy/mathematics skills.  Why not take the "Addition Fact Challenge" yourself. (go to Online Activities)
  • ASSOCIATION OF TEACHERS OF MATHEMATICS
    • The tiles used in the Foundation Phase Numeracy Space and Shape activities can be purchased from the Association of teachers of Mathematics (ATM). (go to ATM) (do to tiles ordering page)
  • NSC MATHEMATICS LEARNING OUTCOME BROADSHEETS
      English  Afrikaans 
    LO1: Numbers, Operations and Relationships download download
    LO2: Patterns, Functions and Algebra  download download
    LO3: Space and Shape (Geometry)  download download
    LO4: Measurement  download download
    LO5: Data Handling   download download

COURSE PHOTOS

Click on the appropriate thumbnail below to view a larger photo of the course participants.

2010  
Senior Phase Group 1
2010 SEN Group 1 (small)		  Senior Phase Group 2
2010 SEN Group 2 (small)
2009  
 Foundation Phase Group 1
2009 FND Group 1 (small)		  Intermediate Phase Group 1
2009 INT Group 1 (small)
 Foundation Phase Group 2
2009 FND Group 2 (small)		  Intermediate Phase Group 2
2009 INT Group 2 (small)
Foundation Phase Group 3
2009 FND Group 3 (small)		  Foundation Phase Group 3 v2
2009 FND Group 3 v2 (small)
 Foundation Phase Group 4
2009 FND Group 4 (small)		   Senior Phase Group 1
Senior_Phase_09 (small)
 2008  
 Foundation Phase Group 1Foundation Phase Group 1 Intermediate Phase Group 1 Intermediate Phase Group 1

 Foundation Phase Group 2Foundation Phase Group 2		  
Intermediate Phase Group 2 Intermediate_Grp_2_Full
 
Foundation Phase Group 3Foundation Phase Group 3		  
Foundation Phase Group 4
Foundation_Grp_4_Small
   



COURSE EVALUATION

Please complete the course evaluation appropriate to the course that you have completed:

Foundation and Intermediate Phase courses: click here 
Senior Phase course: click here
 
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