Attained mathematics curriculum in Zimbabwe primary schools

This article presents a research on the attained mathematics curriculum in Zimbabwe primary schools conducted in 1981. The major findings are that: (i) The majority of Grade Seven pupils proceed into the secondary school level with very limited mathematical background, especially in those areas that constitute the foundation for secondary school mathematics. (ii) The majority of Grade Seven pupils show very weak understanding of key mathematical concepts such as number, fraction, place value, perimeter, area, and volume. (iii) The Grade Seven pupils’ levels of competence in the key processes of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division are very low especially in problems involving combinations of whole numbers, proper and improper fractions, decimals and mixed numbers. (iv) Most Grade Seven pupils show very low ability to apply mathematical ideas to real life problems even those involving practical concepts such as gain, loss, interest, discount and sales tax.

A ZJER article on the attained mathematics curriculum of primary schools in Zimbabwe.