Geometry and culture are interrelated, making school geometry closely connected to the environment as well as culture in which it is taught. With regard to this connectedness, the Zimbabwean mathematics syllabus indicates that geometry should be connected to the learners’ environment and...

This convergent mixed method study aimed at gaining insight into teachers’ awareness of ethnomathematics approaches and the ethnomathematical practices that could be used in the teaching and learning of geometry. The data were gathered through questionnaires and focus group discussions. The findings showed that the in-service teachers had varying definitions of ethnomathematics approaches and they were aware of the ethnogeometrical practices found in their cultural practices and experiences that could be integrated into the teaching and learning of geometry.

This article reports on a study which used the APOS (Action‐Process‐Object‐Schema) theory framework to investigate university students’ understanding of limits of functions. The relevant limit concepts were taught to undergraduate science students at a university in Kwazulu‐Natal in South Africa. This paper reports on the analysis of students’ responses to four types of questions on limits of functions. The findings of this study confirmed that the limit concept is one that students find difficult to understand, and suggests that this is possibly the result of many students not having appropriate mental structures at the process, object and schema levels.

For teachers to integrate ethnomathematics approaches, it is essential to understand their views related to the implementation challenges of such approaches. In schools, teachers held previous views and experiences that influenced their integration of ethnomathematics approaches. This study investigates school-related factors that impede the integration of ethnomathematics approaches into the teaching and learning of geometry as well as suggesting possible solutions into mathematics instruction in Zimbabwe. A convergent mixed methods design, using questionnaires, focus group discussions and interviews, was used. Stratified random sampling, research-based recruitment and purposive sampling were used to select 42 participants. Inductive analysis was used to analyse qualitative data and descriptive statistics was employed to analyse quantitative data. The study revealed that curriculum-related challenges, insufficient resources such as textbooks and very few cultural examples and activities affect the integration of ethnomathematics approaches into the teaching and learning of geometry. There is a need for curriculum developers to engage more teachers during the curriculum design in order to develop material that suits all the learners in Zimbabwe.

This article reports on a study which used the APOS (action-process-object-schema) Theory framework and a classification of errors toinvestigate university students’ understanding of the integration concept and its applications. Research was done at the Westville Campus of the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. The relevant rules for finding antiderivatives, the link between derivatives and antiderivatives, interpreting a definite integral as area under the relevant curve and their context-based applications were taught to undergraduate science students. This paper reports on the analysis of two students’ responses to questions on integrals and their applications. The findings of this study suggest that those students had difficulty in applying the rules for integrals and their applications, and this was possibly the result of them not having appropriate mental structures at the process, object and schema levels.