Abstract:
The main aim of this article is to put forward the idea of the general value of the radical-local
approach to teaching and learning for the development of mathematics teaching in Ghana, both
in relation to classroom teaching and for teacher training. To illustrate this idea, this article
reports on a study that drew on aspects of the radical-local approach to teaching and learning
(Hedegaard & Chaiklin, 2005), to teach the idea of measurement to primary four school children
from an average rural school in Cape Coast Metropolis of Ghana. The first four teaching
sessions with a primary four class are described. Each of the teaching sessions drew on the social
and cultural practices of the children to help them form an idea of what measurement is and
which physical properties could be measured from given objects. Qualitative analysis of the
teaching sessions revealed that the teaching approach enabled children to change their notion of
measurements as involving measuring tables, chairs and human beings and so on, to measuring
attributes of these objects. It also helped the pupils appreciate that several attributes could be
measured from a given object. The study supports the idea that a radical-local approach can be
used to teach measurement meaningfully to pupils, and has potential to be used for mathematics
teaching more generally. Implications for mathematics teacher education in Ghana and similar
sub-Saharan African countries are discussed.
