ethnomathematics in school curriculum

Seminar paper

On

Ethnomathematics in School curriculum

Santosh Bhandari

IntroductionThe term ethno-mathematics is used to express the relationship between culture and mathematics. Ethno encompasses identifiable cultural groups such as national tribal societies ways of reasoning and inferring.According to D'Ambrosio the mathematics competencies learned at home and which are lost in the first years of schooling are essential for everyday life and labor.Ethnomathematics in the school curricula is an important methodological posture towards a new teaching method Ethnomathematics extracted from the cultural contracted in the academic mathematics

What is Ethnomathematics?…the mathematics practiced among identifiable cultural groups, such as national-tribal societies, labor groups, children of certain age bracket, professional classes, and so on. Its identity depends largely on focuses of interest, on

ethno + mathema + tics = ethnomathematics

ethno - within a cultural environment

mathema - explaining and understanding in order to transcend, managing and coping with reality in order to survive and thrive

tics - techniques such as counting, ordering, sorting, measuring, weighing, ciphering, classifying, inferring, and modeling.

Some Issues of Ethnomathematics

How to address 'ethnomath' in the school curriculum?

Which ethnomathematical contents are best in school curriculum?

How to teach these contents in culturally differentiated groups of student?

Must Ethnomathematical perspectives be integrated in school curriculum?

Exposing the issues. Methodology to track and analyze the processes of generation, transmission, diffusion and institutionalization of mathematics knowledge in diverse cultural systemsEhthnomathematicians emphasize and analyze the influences of socio-cultural factors on the teaching, learning and development of mathematics. Ehtonmathematicans in 'Third World' countries look for mathematical traditions which survived colonization, especially for mathematical actives in people daily

Ethnomathematics as an intersection of three disciplines

Mathematics

Mathematical Modeling

Cultural Anthropology

A few comments

“When making this kind of art, thinking about math is unavoidable. The project makes art and math synonymous.”

“Do not teach an ethnocentric curriculum.”

“And if nothing else, the museum can serve as a humbling experience”.

“…striking interplay of art and function.”

“ … amazing connection to the globalized world.”

“Ethnomathematics encourages us to witness and struggle to understand how mathematics

MathematicsCultural artifact

Alternative forms of knowledge construction

Integrating an ethnomathematicalperspective in to the curriculum. It gives a more accurate account of the history

of mathematics and the contribution of non western peoples to it.

Encourages instructors to have students examine their methods and ways of conceptualizing mathematic.

Develop confidence that they can learn even more mathematics.

They gain respect for the contributions of their and those of other communities

ConclusionEthnomathematical research has been directed towards identifying and studying various cultural 'forms' of mathematic which differ from dominant, standard 'academic' and 'school' mathematics To incorporate ethnomathematics into the curriculum it will be necessary to 'identify within ethnomathematics as a structured body of knowledge'.

Thank You…