Mathematics of students’ culture: a goal of localized ethnomathematics
Tipo de documento
Autores
Lista de autores
Shirley, Lawrence
Resumen
Ethnomathematics is the mathematics of cultural groups, but often those cultural groups are “others” and “elsewhere”. However, it is also valuable to look inward to see the interaction of mathematics and one’s own culture. An assignment in a graduate course offers this opportunity to students. The assignment is to find an area of the student’s personal “culture” (sometimes defined rather broadly) and find its use of mathematics. Students are asked to write about (a) the cultural area; (b) how they are personally tied to it; and (c) how and where it uses mathematics. In addition to the paper, students make an oral presentation. Thus, all students learn (often surprising) aspects of their classmates’ non-professional life, and the presenter digs into areas of family and heritage that may not have been reviewed before. Since all students are classroom mathematics teachers, finding their own cultural mathematics is not only enlightening for themselves, but also offers opportunities to include new mathematics applications in their teaching. This paper includes much personal background that led to this assignment and is a report on more than a decade of using it, including brief student examples.
Fecha
2015
Tipo de fecha
Estado publicación
Términos clave
Etnomatemática | Formación | Gestión de aula | Interacciones
Enfoque
Nivel educativo
Idioma
Revisado por pares
Formato del archivo
Revista
Revista Latinoamericana de Etnomatemática: Perspectivas Socioculturales de la Educación Matemática
Volumen
8
Número
2
Rango páginas (artículo)
316-325
ISSN
20115474
Referencias
Ascher, M. (1991). Ethnomathematics: a Multicultural View of Mathematical Ideas. Pacific Grove, California: Brooks-Cole Publishing Company. Gerdes, P. (1997). Survey of Current Work in Ethnomathematics. In A. Powell, & M. Frankenstein (Eds.), Ethnomathematics: Challenging Eurocentrism in Mathematics Education (pp. 331-371). Albany, New York: State University of New York Press. Mitchelmore, M., & Raynor, B. (Eds.), (1968-1972). Joint Schools Project Mathematics, Books 1-5. London: Longmans, Green and Co., Ltd. Powell, A., & Frankenstein, M. (Eds.), (1997). Ethnomathematics: Challenging Eurocentrism in Mathematics Education. Albany, New York: State University of New York Press. Shirley, L. (1998). Ethnomathematics in Teacher Education. In M. L. Oliveras, (Org.). Ethnomathematics and Mathematics Education: Building an Equitable Future, First International Conference on Ethnomathematics, Granada, Spain. Shirley, L. (2012). The Work of Ethnomathematics. Conference presentation at the Quarta Conferência Brasileira em Etnomatemática-CBEm4 (4º Brazilian Ethnomathematics Conference), Belém, Brasil. Shirley, L. (1988a). Historical and ethnomathematical algorithms for classroom use. Conference presentation at the 6º International Congress of Mathematical Education (ICME-6), Budapest, Hungary. Shirley, L. (1988b). "Counting in Nigerian Languages" Conference presentation at the 6º International Congress on Mathematical Education (ICME-6), Budapest, Hungary, 1988.