Instruction for Mathematics and Science in Primary and Lower Secondary Grades
Grade at Which Specialist Teachers for Mathematics and Science are Introduced
Primary teachers are nonspecialist teachers. Students are assigned specialist teachers for mathematics and science upon entering lower secondary education.
Instructional Materials, Equipment, and Laboratories
No specific instructional materials or textbooks are prescribed for the teaching of mathematics or science at the primary or lower secondary levels. Primary school teachers are provided with guidelines on appropriate materials for mathematics and science.14,15 In practice, classroom planning and instruction tend to draw on textbook content to a large extent, particularly for mathematics lessons.16,17
Teacher guidelines for science at the lower secondary level, including examples of instructional planning for some topics, have been published to support the revised syllabus introduced in 2003.18 While guidelines were not published for the revised mathematics curriculum in 2010, resources and guidance were provided through the NCCA website.19 As at the primary level, teachers often base instruction on commercially published textbooks, supplemented by past examination papers.
In science, students must complete a minimum of 23 mandatory experiments over a three year period. As such, schools must have adequate laboratory space, apparatus, and chemicals to facilitate this requirement. While the Department of Education and Skills issues a list of the minimum resources needed to implement the practical work, the list is indicative only. Teachers can access the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment website at www.curriculumonline.ie, which demonstrates features of effective teaching and learning through the use of multimedia and includes some materials that support the teaching of mathematics and science.
Use of Technology
The Primary School Mathematics Curriculum (1999) highlights the importance of enabling children to think and communicate quantitatively and spatially to solve problems, to recognize situations in which mathematics can be applied, and to use appropriate technology to support such applications. Providing more detail to support the use of technology in the classroom, the Teacher Guidelines for Mathematics refers to specific examples of the use of technology in mathematics, including calculators, ICT applications, such as drill and practice programs, adventure programs, databases, spreadsheets, LOGO computer language, and the Internet. In addition, the NCCA has provided some general guidelines and practical suggestions for the use of ICT by teachers.20 Technology use in fourth grade mathematics and science tends to focus on online interactive resources (games, videos, and simulations to present and reinforce concepts). Recent studies have found that a majority of teachers report feeling comfortable using computers in their teaching, but the use of technology by students is a regular feature of only a minority of primary school mathematics or science lessons.21,22
At the lower secondary level, online interactive resources, digital projectors, laptops, and other configurations such as visualizer and sensor technology are used in science lessons in many schools. At both grade levels, access to high speed broadband and greater access to technology in the classroom, alongside the development of ICT in the mathematics and science curriculum, is significantly influencing and gradually changing how teachers use ICT in the classroom and in their approach to accessing input from science and mathematics expertise online. While post-primary teachers have reported extensive use of ICT in the preparation of lessons and in presenting content during lessons, student use of ICT is much less frequent.23 Among 15-year-olds in Ireland, use of ICTs at school in general, in mathematics lessons, and at home for school-related tasks, were all below the corresponding Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) average levels.24
The mathematics curriculum provides for the introduction and use of calculators in mathematics from Grade 4 onward, by which time students should have acquired a mastery of basic number facts and a facility in their use. The curriculum highlights how students’ understanding of the structure of number can be enhanced with a calculator through exploration of patterns, sequences, and relationships. The curriculum also encourages the use of calculators to help develop students’ problem solving skills, by allowing them to focus on the structure of a problem and explore different methods to solve problems. In addition, the curriculum advises teachers to allow calculator use for the purpose of checking estimates, performing long and complex computations, and providing exact results to difficult problems. However, the curriculum stipulates that students need a sound understanding of numbers to make judgments about when it is appropriate to estimate, to calculate mentally, to make a calculation on paper, or to use a calculator for an exact result. Standardized tests for Grade 4 have specific directions regarding the use of calculators.
In lower secondary mathematics lessons, personal computers, laptops, and data projectors are the most commonly used ICT resources. There is evidence that dynamic geometry software, such as Geogebra, and spreadsheet packages are being used in lessons as well, but to a much lesser extent.25
Both the primary and lower secondary science curricula include general statements regarding the use of ICT in schools, noting that students’ investigations and explorations can be enhanced through the use of ICT—for example, in recording and analyzing information, simulating investigations and tests that support scientific topics, communicating scientific information and findings, working collaboratively on science projects with students in other schools, and accessing and using a range of scientific and technological information. The curricula note that computer-based simulation may be particularly helpful when students are conducting investigations difficult to organize in real life contexts.
Accommodation Policies for Instruction and Testing
The National Council for Special Education (NCSE) is the statutory body with responsibility for coordinating the provision of support for children with special educational needs. The Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act (2004) provides that children with special educational needs shall be educated in an inclusive environment unless it is inconsistent with their best interests or the effective provision of education for the children with whom the child with special needs is to be educated. It is a function of the NCSE to ensure that a continuum of special education provision is available. Support for learning in mainstream settings is provided by learning support teachers and resource teachers, according to the students’ individual needs. Differentiation of curriculum, teaching, and learning to accommodate the range of learning needs in classrooms is promoted as good practice. Students’ care needs in school settings may be addressed by special needs assistants (SNAs).
Reasonable accommodations may be made during state examinations with the intention of removing as far as possible the impact of a disability on a student’s performance, so that he or she can demonstrate in the examination his or her level of achievement. The National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) and the Visiting Teacher Service for hearing impaired and visually impaired children also fulfill functions in relation to the processing of applications for specific accommodations for students participating in state examinations.