Conferences

Guest author- Serufe Molefe, ORT SA
Reflections on the 17th annual SAARMSTE conference held in Grahamstown’s’ Rhodes University January 2009. (Serufe Molefe)
The SAARMSTE conference this year titled; Reclaiming knowledge in Mathematics, Science and Technology Education in Southern Africa was hosted at the Rhodes University where the first conference by the association was held. What emerged as an area of interest to most practitioners in the field was the lack of content knowledge by the teachers, and one presenter after another aimed to provide a solution to this challenge.

 I was pleased to see that ORT SA shares the same research interest similar to those shared by everyone else in the practice. And acknowledged hat our quantitive research into Mathematics in the Foundation Phase is unique and intrigue.

A Slideshare presentation of the paper

SAARMSTE has stood the test of time for maintaining its standard. My presentation at the conference went well, even though there were not so many people attending my presentation.
Although I acknowledge the efforts and good work done by the organising team to put the programme together, I do suggest that venues should be organised according to themes in order to minimise mobility in between sessions. This does affect attendance to some sessions as people end up resorting to remain in the venue or just to go to the one nearby.
My hope for the Paper research is that it will have opportunities to be presented in other conferences as it is a worthwhile study. I would like to see practitioners debating about our results and findings. I believe that ORT SA has a lot to contribute in the practice and since a little is fairly known about us in the country, we need to utilise this space making a mark for ourselves and letting our work talk for us.

Serufe is finishing her Masters Degree and works full time with ORT SA.