Ethnomathematical Ideas in the Curriculuml

Classrooms or other learning environments cannot be segregated from the communities in which they are embedded. They are part of a community with defined cultural practices and where students come to school and bring with them values, norms, and concepts they have acquired as part of growing up. Some of these are mathematical (Bishop, 1994)

The school curriculum mathematical concepts are presented to students in a way that may not be related to cultural mathematics. In the Third World countries it has been hypothesised that low attainment in mathematics could be due to lack of cultural consonance in the curriculum (Bakalevu 1998) There is research evidence that includes cultural aspects in the curriculum will have long term benefits for mathematics learners. This enables them to have deeper understanding of mathematics, recognise mathematics as part of everyday life and improve their ability make connenctions. (Bishop, 1988)

A study has been undertaken by University of Auckland to investigate the implementations of an ethnomathematical unit in a mathematics classroom. Two year 5 groups from different school took part in the study.

The study concluded that "The reactions of teachers and students indicated that the ethnomathematical approach appeared to be welcomed, appreciated, and understood by both the teachers and students. Teachers and students were able to identify activities and experiences in Maldivian culture exhibiting measurement systems, and were able to link this to the conventional mathematics that is part of the Grade 5 measurement syllabus. Research data suggest several levels of ethnomathematical awareness and responses. The basic level is motivation and interest, the next level is seeing mathematics at work in the society and being able to connect school mathematics to real world activities, and the final level is understanding mathematics actively as something that humans develop in response to particular situations. Whether these awareness and response levels can be attributed solely to an ethnomathematical curriculum model is debatable. Also open is the question of whether they can be achieved across all teachers and all students. It may well be that Maldivian teachers and students, who are used to the traditional method of “chalk-and-talk” teaching and learning mathematics, were relieved from boredom, as they were able to go out on field trips, and explore mathematical activities in class. Further research needs to be done to establish firm causes to changes in attitudes."

If changes are made to the curriculum, more research need to be done to identify how we can include ethnomathematics into the curriculum. If ethnomathematics is included is it possible to monitor all the different cultures. Even today teachers have difficulties in teaching how to deliever different learning styles. But if those teachers who are eager to make a difference in a students education, they need to understand and have the knowledge of their students different backgrounds and learning styles.

Reference:

Adam, S. (2002). Ethnomathematics in the Maldivian curriculum. Retrieved from http://www.merga.net.au/documents/RR_adams.pdf

Bishop, A. (1994). Cultural conflicts in mathematics education: Developing a research agenda. For the Learning of Mathematics Retrieved from http://flm-journal.org/Articles/71BCD65E9962F33C8393F5FBE0A2D.pdf

Bishop, A. (1988). Mathematics enculturation: A cultural perspective on mathematics education. Retrieved from http://flm-journal.org/Articles/71BCD65E9962F33C8393F5FBE0A2D.pdf