Tracker's continuing support for MathU achieves results

Tracker’s continued support of MathU is making a real, measurable impact in the lives of South African students. The partnership, which is and has been empowering Grade 10, 11 and 12 students at Magaliesburg State School to excel in mathematics and physical science, has been extended to Grade 12 students at Tembisa High School for this academic year.

MathU is an app powered by artificial intelligence (AI) that assist’s students with their mathematics and science through adaptive learning. Participating students receive an Android mobile device preloaded with the MathU GO application suite that includes the relevant CAPS curriculum aligned mathematics content, and a MathU GO hardcover learning guide appropriate for their grade. Teachers receive training and access to the MathU GO monitoring portal, which provides detailed breakdowns of a group’s performance as well as individual performance metrics.

The initiative has yielded remarkable results at the Magaliesburg State School. MathU’s benchmark assessments indicate that students averaged 20-29% in mathematics prior to receiving the app. This improved to average assessment scores of 30-50% after making use of the app. One student displayed exemplary improvement – originally scoring 7.5% on an assessment at the start of the initiative, he went on to score 57.5% on an assessment of the same difficulty after only three months of MathU being available to him.

“At Tracker we are passionate about education and ensuring that we play our part in contributing towards the education of “our” children within the communities where we operate. This is what leads us to not only continue but also grow our partnership with MathU where learning and growing is only a button away,” says Grace Dipale, Tracker’s Executive for Human Capital. “The positive benefits experienced at Magaliesburg State School encouraged not only the expansion of the initiative to cover more students across Grades 10, 11 and 12, but also an expansion of the initiative to Tembisa High School to aid students in Grade 12.”

“This is the third consecutive year that Tracker is sponsoring MathU. We are proud to have been a partner since inception of an initiative that is transforming young lives. We are also proud of one of the beneficiaries of the programme, Ozayo Mooi who is currently in his second year of mechanical engineering studies and has started a part time role with MathU to assist with digitising mathematics and science content,” says Dipale.

MathU is designed in such a way that it creates a virtual teaching assistant for each student. The proprietary AI system generates a learning pathway based on the student’s performance. Students have access to instant and immediate feedback on their progress. If a student is struggling to master a section, the MathU application is capable of providing the assistance that was previously only available to students during one-on-one sessions with teachers. Plus, students are able to access the course content offline, making it ideal for deployment in rural areas.

“The MathU learning suite is the swiss army knife of tutoring that can greatly advance the academic absorption rate within technical fields such as mathematics if administrated correctly. We maximise the quality of learning by providing students with the necessary information when they need it. Our rewards system, which uses incentives, plays a big part in the motivation of students,” says WA Burger, MathU CEO.

The MathU sponsorship is one of Tracker SA’s corporate social investment initiatives, which focus predominantly on education. Tracker was the first company to partner with MathU, and while the investment is displaying results, MathU requires further funding for greater rollout. Tracker encourages other corporates to consider sponsorship of the app for additional schools to benefit, ensuring greater uptake of maths and science and increased literacy levels across the country. The entire package amounts to less than R20.00 a day per student for a year’s worth of learning material, and MathU is in the process of becoming SETA/BBBEE accredited.