International Journal of Trends in Mathematics Education

ECM 561 TEACHING THE CURRICULUM: JUNIOR SECONDARY MATHS
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Introduction
Mathematics is a subject that attempts to comprehend patterns which permeate both the universe
around individuals as well as the mind. There are numerous ways of thinking; the type of
thinking one develops in mathematics is the ability to tackle abstraction besides solving
problems which need mathematics knowledge (Kullberg et al., 2017). Creativity has been
suggested as one of the main components to be incorporated in the education that is offered to
learners in the 21st century hence, the current curriculum ought to lay emphasis on the
development of the creative thinking of students. The main aim of mathematics education
revolves around mathematisation of the thinking of a learner. Clarity of thoughts as well as
pursing of the assumption to a conclusion that is logical and elaborate is pivotal to the
mathematical enterprise. Researchers have developed different dimensions of mathematics
creativity (Catarino et al., 2019).

Concept Map for Trigonometry
Description of Activities
Playfulness is treated as an integral bit in supporting creativity since numerous possible solutions
are explored in a spontaneous manner in play. This is termed as divergent thinking. Play revolves
around exploration as well as experimenting that can be done by a learner of any age (DhayantI
et al., 2018). When learners are experimenting and exploring, it is of essence that they have
choices: the choice to tackles a problem in various ways, the option of making mistakes or even
the choice of coming up with their own conjectures and determine their validity. In the first
activity, I will give the leaners the choice by asking them, ‘In how many ways can you...?’
question.

The aim of this activity is for the learner to become knowledge as well as gain confidence that
closed polygons may be divided into right angles. This will give allow them to do so when they
come across right angles triangles to use later in trigonometry problems for instance when
attempting to prove cosine rule. In such a way, being in a position to play with right-angled
triangles within a polygon may become a tool getting them unstuck in their later assignments
(Huang et al., 2019).
This task is ideal for learners that are exploring possibilities for themselves for the first time and
thereafter discussing the same with the other members of their class to gain more insights and
further refine their thinking.
Activities
Activity 1: Learners evaluating triangles in polygons
I will ask the learners:
 In how many ways can they divided each of the shapes shown below into triangle-angled
triangles?
Figure 1: Hexagon & equilateral triangle