Characteristics of exemplary teaching and learning materials for mathematics meant to support Ugandan teachers to implement the new curriculum for lower secondary school, when teaching addition, subtraction, multiplication and division of negative numbers.

Abstract

In Uganda a new curriculum will be introduced in lower secondary school. Currently the National Curriculum Development Centre is designing this curriculum. Curriculum materials will be the carriers which bring the curriculum to the teachers. This research was conducted to find out which characteristics of exemplary teaching and learning materials help teachers to implement the new curriculum. The topic of the exemplary materials was integers and their operations, a topic in mathematics. The exemplary materials focused on two aspects which are important in the new mathematics curriculum: learning with understanding, instead of rote learning and teaching to include all learners, not just the strong ones.