I may have started this journey ignorant as to what ethnomathematics was, but my knowledge and understanding has grown considerably. I believe that teachers already use ethnmathematics to assist them to relate to students, their peers and their life in general. How many times have had to consider a culture and how society relates to all cultures before we can go forward and become contributing members of the community and the world.
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Classrooms are made up of a wide variety of students. Every student deserves the best education they can get, and that includes mathematics. Teachers are very aware of the diversity in their classrooms, and they have many pedagogies that they can take advantage of.
" Rather than trying to bring out the cultures in maths, we need to bring out the Maths in culture" (8way.wikispaces)
There are many different cultures and sub cultures in a classroom. It would be logical to think that students would be more familiar with and show more interest, when their culture is used in Mathematics. But, there would also be the view that some cultures may think that more traditional western ways of mathematics may be more appropriate for progression, as is pointed out in Begg (2001). Using the cultures that are in the classroom to base activities and lessons on needs to be carefully planned so that the histories of different cultures are meaningful and not just an enrichment of knowledge.
In todays classroom teachers have a very diverse range of students. Different cultural backgrounds mean that not all students learn in the same way. One of the most important things for a teacher to be aware of is their own culture and how it influences their teaching. As stated in Siemons et. al. (2012)diverse learners are the students who learn in a different way to their teacher, and as teachers we are responsible for the learning of all our students.
While researching ethnomathematics, It became clear that the word may be relatively new (first used in 1977 by Ubiratan D'Amborsio during a presentation for the American Association for the Advancement of Science), but the concept of it has been around for much longer.
Other cultures, societies, people and countries have had different forms of mathematics that have helped them live their everyday lives. Just because it is not the Western style of mathematics, does not mean that it is not mathematical. Cimen (2014) suggests that among differerent cultures and societies, can be relative to the shared activities and experinces of that culture of society. We know that different cultures and societies can estimate, tell how long something is, how wide it is, how many of an item is needed, this is mathematics. We should be able to teach students that 'different' doesn't mean 'wrong'. Culture and diversity can be used to increase our knowledge Mathematically as well as in the other areas of the curriculum as well, not just as tokenism, but as a different technique. All over the world different cultures have had similar every day life problems, as Cimen (2014) points out, they have different perspectives and interpretations of their problems and the environment may be different but, the problem remains the same, and so can the outcomes of solving the problem. In Cimen's (2014) article (Discussing ethnomathematics, Is mathematics culturally dependent), the example is given of numbers and counting, The Inca's used Quipus, the Chinese used knotted cords. Different symbols and practices were used, but it was numbering and arithmetic. In Cimen (2014) , Bishop (1998) is sited in text, of the six universal activities of mathematics, they are counting, locating, measuring, designing, playing and explaining. All societies and cultures use these six activities. Therefore, at this stage, I do believe that mathematics is culturally dependent. I also believe that mathematics is evolving in relation to how it is viewed by society, as well as how it is taught in schools around the world. We all have a bigger role in ensuring that no culture is left behind, and we show respect to cultures different from out own. When I first saw the word 'Ethnomathematics' I had no idea what it meant or was. Looking up the definition online, It is described as the relationship between culture and mathematics. Breaking down the word: Ethno Groups of people and their culture, including language, beliefs, traditions, food, physical appearance, location. Mathematics Includes the use of addition, subtraction, division, graphs, modelling, statistics and other numerical procedures to solve problems. Numeracy is used by everyone for everyday tasks. This blog will follow my readings and understanding of Ethnomathematics, and also look at how it can be incorporated in teaching Indigenous culture into the classroom when teaching mathematics. |