UNIT 7: FACTORS INFLUENCING SEQUENCE OF SUBJECT MATTER

Once subject matter has been selected, it has to be arranged in some sequence for
teaching. By sequence, it means a

temporal ordering of subject matter such that one item of subject

matter is taught first, another is taught second, another third, and so on.

Sequence can be vertical or horizontal.

Vertical sequence means the ordering of subject matter with respect to the grade or class:
kindergarten, primary, JSS, SSS, and so on. Vertical sequence is often called grade or class
placement. For example, the topics in Statistics: data collection, data representation, measures
of central tendency, measures of dispersion, correlation and regression may be arranged so
that all of these are taught in in form, this is an example of vertical sequence. In a horizontal
sequence, these topics are arranged such that aspects of the topics are taught in different
forms.

Horizontal sequence means the ordering either of subject matter with respect to a particular
course in a particular class or of subject matter in a particular topic in a particular course.

Items of subject matter can be arranged in increasing or decreasing utility. When textbook
authors place in the last chapters of their book the subject matter that can be omitted without
introducing gaps in the student’s knowledge, they are using the principle of decreasing utility.
On the other hand, when they put in the first chapter the subject matter that is very easy for
the students, they are employing the principle of increasing utility. Some of the factors that
influence sequence of subject matter include:

1. Prerequisite Knowledge

Prerequisite knowledge is used more frequently than any other factor for determining a
sequence for teaching mathematical subject matter. If knowledge of p is necessary for the
comprehension of q, then p must be taught before q.

For example, if a teacher wants to present the theorem:

“Every real number has an additive inverse”,

using abbreviated quantifiers,

 x  R,  y  R Э x + y = 0
the student will have to be taught the meaning of the symbols x,  y,  and Э before they
can understand the generalization stated in mathematical notation. If the conventional
algorithm for adding two common fractions is taught, the teacher ought to teach beforehand
the concepts of numerator and denominator, factoring and how to factor natural numbers.
Again to teach how to apply common logarithms to transform a curve to linear graph,
students ought to have been taught linear graphs. Otherwise, students will not know what the
teacher is talking about when these terms are used.

2. Familiarity

Some topics selected for a course are more familiar than others to students. Topics like sets
and numeration systems are often treated earlier due to the familiarity factor for pupils are
familiar with the idea of groupings from the home. Many teachers and textbook writers use
familiarity to order the presentation of subject matter. They begin with the most and progress
to the least familiar.

Using familiarity for determining sequence is justified on psychological and pedagogical

grounds. The familiar is less threatening hence students are motivated to study it. Teaching is
easier and students learn better.

3. Abstractness

The word abstraction is derived from a Latin word that means “draw from”. Abstracting is a
cognitive activity that occurs when an individual becomes cognizant of a pattern, of a set of
similarities among differences. For example a student who graphs series of

y = ax2 + bx + c, (a  0), will become aware that though the graphs may be located at
different places in the 2-dimensional space, some are “open upward”, some are “open
downward”, they all have the same shape. The student has abstracted the common property of
shape from the different graphs.

There may be increasing or decreasing abstractness of subject matter, and either of these
orders can be used to determine a sequence. Abstractness increases when restricting
conditions are removed. Thus the sequence

rectangles < parallelograms < quadrilaterals < polygons

where “<” means precedes

is in the order of increasing abstractness. This is because the right angle condition is removed
in passing from rectangles to parallelograms, the condition of parallel opposite sides is
removed in passing from parallelograms to quadrilaterals, and the four sides condition is
removed in passing from quadrilaterals to polygons. Similarly, the sequence

2  2 matrices < 3  3 matrices < m  n matrices

is increasing abstractness.

Abstractness decreases when conditions are imposed. Thus the sequence

geometric figures < polygons < quadrilaterals < parallelograms < rectangles < squares

is in decreasing abstractness. This is because one progresses through the sequence by

imposing additional conditions on each set of figures after the first.

An example of the use of the relation of increasing abstractness in determining vertical

sequence is the sequence

counting numbers < whole numbers < integers < rational # < irrational # < real # < complex #

4. The Genetic Principle

Morris Kline (1966) pointed out that the conceptual difficulties mathematicians have
experienced with ideas are the very ones students experience when they come to learn the
ideas. When negative numbers were first conceived, they seemed strange and their
acceptance by mathematicians took time. This was even more true of irrational and imaginary
numbers. Their designation (irrational having the connotation not reasonable and imaginary,
not real) indicated the suspicion with which many mathematicians have regarded them.
Another example is the elements of non-Euclidean geometry, which did not appear to fit
man’s conception of space. Non-Euclidean geometry is harder for students to understand than
Euclidean geometry.

Kline (1966), therefore proposed a genetic principle for ordering the presentation of subject
matter: the order of presentation of mathematical ideas should be the same as the historical
order of their invention or discovery. We can find examples that fit this genetic principle in
curricula. Informal proof precedes formal proof in most courses in geometry. Negative
numbers are taught after positive numbers and imaginaries are taught after real numbers.
Matrix theory follows a study of solution of systems of linear equations. But these sequences
also are in terms of increasing abstractness, and some of them are in terms of familiarity.
Hence the genetic principle, although plausible enough, is not independent of the other
factors.

5. Immediacy of Application

Sequencing by immediacy of application can be justified on psychological and pedagogical

grounds. A student who sees the immediate utility of some subject matter is more highly
motivated to study it because it has become more significant. Moreover, application
reinforces learning. Topics that are required to be known before other topics ought to be
taught first. Example; limits needed to be taught before differentiation, before partial
variation, simultaneous equations in two variables are needed to be taught.