Pedagogy of Play: The Case of Puppetry in Intermediate Phase Mathematics

There is a gap in the literature available in South Africa on puppetry and its application in the Intermediate Phase especially. Puppetry exhibits potential as a pedagogical tool, but intermediate phase teachers are unfamiliar with its application in the classroom, since their training lacked focus on this pedagogy/component? This paper is based on a masters degree study, presenting the case of one teacher and his experiences with puppetry as pedagogy of play in the intermediate phase mathematics classroom. Third Generation Cultural Historical Theory was used as theoretical framework and a metacognitive methodology as research lens to determine his perception of puppetry and his experiences with puppets as part of his teaching-learning praxis. Data obtained from this participant was collected in the form of a pre-workshop interview and reflections during half-day workshops on two consecutive Saturdays and reflections on his and his learners? experiences with the puppets. These workshops were aimed at introducing and empowering Intermediate Phase Mathematics teachers to the potential of puppets as a pedagogical tool, of which this participant already had previous experiences with. Puppetry was experienced by the teacher as useful, creative, fun, effective, different and cost effective in a means that learners can explore their own flaws and potentials.