Utilising South African Indigenous games to teach Grade R mathematics

Abstract

South African Indigenous Games (SAIGs), such as diketo, morabaraba, kgati, ncuva, and intonga, among others, have been utilised to introduce mathematical concepts at an early age. The concepts include measurement, making sense of numbers, algebra, geometry, and trigonometry, among others. While mathematics has been perceived as promoting a performance- or content-based curriculum, the concepts are introduced through play and actions of a competency- or outcomes-based curriculum that seems to cause tension. The tension suggests a need for a study that examines the utilisation of selected SAIGs to teach Grade R mathematics ideas. It was evident in the findings that all Indigenous games can equally be used by both boys and girls without being categorised based on gender. They can be utilised at a survival level of end users without necessarily expecting 100% performance or outcome, since the cultural belief systems of their custodians are unknown and probably unknowable. They proved effective when used in Grade R, where learners learnt naturally through play, making mathematics meaningful and culturally grounded. As such, this used a pragmatic paradigm with mixed methods, participatory action research (PAR), and a natural-driven curriculum rationale (NDCR) framework to guide document analysis, reflective activities, observations, and semi-structured interviews, and purposive with convenience sampling. As such, this study recommends ongoing studies on the impact of South African Indigenous games used in Early Childhood Education (Grade R) and Foundation Phase.