Using Social Media Pedagogies to teach School Mathematics in a selected Zimbabwean school during the COVID-19 Pandemic
Lillias Hamufari Natsai Mutambara 
& Maria Tsakeni
Issue: Vol.3 No.11 October 2022 Post COVID-19 Special Issue Article 21 pp.261-276
DOI: https://doi.org/10.38159/ehass.2022sp31121 | Published online 4th November 2022.
© 2022 The Author(s). This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
The COVID-19 pandemic tested teachers’ and learners’ resilience to continue teaching and learning with the limited use of traditional classrooms. What became apparent was the need to find alternative ways to maintain the interactions between the teachers and the learners. This study explored the teaching and learning of secondary mathematics during the COVID-19 pandemic based on the community of inquiry framework. An explorative single case study design with forty learners and seven teachers from a rural school in Zimbabwe as participants was used. The purposive selection of the participants was based on their experiences of emergency remote learning and classes where COVID-19 protocols were observed. Data were collected through open-ended and closed questionnaires given to learners and structured and semi-structured interviews conducted with teachers. The qualitative data were analysed through thematic content analysis techniques. The findings show that in the wake of limited access to sufficient educational technologies and internet connectivity, teachers had to find alternative ways to teach mathematical problems by using already worked-out examples and voice notes, thereby reducing the teaching presence and teacher-learner interactions. However, the reduction of the teaching presence was compensated by increased self-regulated learning as learners tried to make sense of the examples shared through social media tools. The study recommends building teachers’ technological and pedagogical knowledge to teach mathematics using cheap social media applications to improve the teaching, social and cognitive presence.
Keywords: COVID-19 pandemic, Educational technologies, School mathematics, Social media pedagogies
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Dr. Lillias Hamufari Natsai Mutambara is currently a Post Doctoral Research Fellow at the University of the Free State, South Africa. She holds a PhD in Mathematics Education. Her research focuses on Mathematics Education.
Dr. Maria Tsakeni is currently a Senior lecturer at the University of the Free State, South Africa. She holds a PhD in Science Education. Her research focuses on STEM instructional and curriculum innovations in schools and preservice teacher preparation programmes.
Mutambara, L.H.N & Tsakeni M. “Using Social Media Pedagogies to teach School Mathematics in a selected Zimbabwean school during the COVID-19 Pandemic,” E-Journal of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences 3, no.11 (2022):261-276. https://doi.org/10.38159/ehass.2022sp31121
© 2022 The Author(s). Published and Maintained by Noyam Publishers. This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
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