Effectiveness of Using WhatsApp for Grade 12 Learners in Teaching Mathematics in South Africa

Abstract

The growth of social media and its usage has been witnessed in many sectors. Nowadays social media has become one of the effective means of communication. Within the education sector platforms such as Facebook, Youtube and WhatsApp have gained more popularity. Despite the growth and usage on WhatsApp, less research has been done on its effectiveness and how it could be used for teaching and learning Mathematics. Mathematics remains one of the challenging subjects for many learners. The aim of the study was to assess the current methods that are being used for teaching and learning Mathematics and to create a WhatsApp group for teaching and learning Mathematics. We conducted a study to prove if WhatsApp could be in effective to teaching and learning Mathematics. To collect the data a mixed approach was used where both qualitative and quantitative methods were considered. A WhatsApp group of 10 learners and one (1) Mathematics teacher were engaged in the study. We engaged the participants to explore the effectiveness of using WhatsApp for Grade 12 learners in teaching and learning Mathematics at Phakamani High School in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. Results show that, WhatsApp motivates, encourages and allows learners and teachers to share information on the subject. Learners were free to ask and discuss critical topics and issues on the Mathematics group. From the comments given by the participants, it was evident that WhatsApp could be one of the means to improve Mathematics interest and performance among learners engaged.