| Summary: | This study has been undertaken to try and find an answer to the problem of underachievement and the failure rate among the pupils in the junior primary phase of education. It has been aimed mainly at showjng that cognitive factors play an important part in causing learning problems in mathematics. Firstly, I have tried to point out what is meant by learnjng problems. It has been decided that because of different definitions in this regard, a pupil with learning problems can be identified when there is a discrepancy between his actual achievement and his learnjng potential. Special attention has therefore been directed at the variety of reasons for learning problems in general. Emphasis is especially placed on developmental problems as a cause of learning problems. In the first place developmental problems must be interpreted as organic underdevelopment. On the other hand developmental problems may show themselves in matters such as maturity, the readiness factor, or the intrinsic puberty process, etc. The maturity level is the product of a biological developmental process, and it is something which the child must develop on his own as time passes. Being ready for school is an all embracing concept which includes the school maturity level. School readiness also refers to the influence of learning on a child's development, up to the stage where one can expect a child to make good progress at school. The causes of learning difficulties in mathematics can be divided into basically two categories: Firstly where cognitive factors do not play a decesive role; and secondly the category which is especiaIly concerned with the cognitive development of the child. The general causes of learning difficulties such as home-background, motivation, etc., and other factors such as interference, automatisms, perseveration, etc., can be included in the first category cognitive factors are dealt with in the second category. As it is the aim of this study to show that pupils with learning difficulties in mathematics, operate on a lower cognitive level than pupils without this particular defect, it has been necessary to discuss thoroughly the cognitive development of the child with special reference to the transition from the intuitive to the concrete-operational phase. === Thesis (MEd)--PU vir CHO, 1975
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