bishop. mathematics education in society and culture

7/31/2019 Bishop. Mathe matics e ducation in socie ty and culture

1/5

271

TA

Thematic

Afternoon B

TA B: Mathematics education in society and culture

Team Chairs: Alan Bishop , Monash University, AustraliaPedro Gmez, University o Granada, Spain

Team Members: Barry Cooper , University o Durham, United Kingdom Katsuhiko Shimizu , Tokyo University o Science, Japan

Margaret Walshaw , Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand

IntroductionIn this theme the ocus was on the complex relationships between mathematics educa-tion, society and culture, and it had our sub-themes:1. Multilingual and multicultural classrooms: Increasing diversity 2. Mathematics education within and across di erent cultures and traditions3. Social and political contexts or mathematics education4. Equity in mathematics education: Culture, gender, and social class.

Within the entire programme structure or this ICME, there were several other programmeitems which dealt with themes and issues close to those o Theme B, or example, TSG25 Language and communication in mathematics education, and TSG 26 Gender andmathematics education, among others. However, in the perception o the IPC, it wasthe task o Theme B to depict the entire problmatique in relation to mathematics educa-tion in science and culture, whereas the other programme elements will address specialaspects o that problmatique .

The our sub-themes which the IPC or ICME-10 determined or this Theme represent signi cant growth areas, and so, as each o the sub-themes involves both research anddevelopment, the aims o the Theme B a ternoon were: To highlight current oci o research and development in each sub-theme. To demonstrate and contrast the various approaches that researchers and

developers are currently using. To allow practitioners at all levels to engage with, and critique the latest

developments in these sub-themes.

The a ternoons program was organised around the our themes, and there were threepapers selected or each sub-theme. Their summaries ollow:

Sub-theme 1:Multilingual and multicultural classrooms: Increasing diversity In the rst paper, Leo Rogers, rom Roehampton University, Surrey, UK, gave a talk enti-tled Multicultural classrooms in 4 European countries, in which he described aComenius Project on teaching and learning mathematics during the transition romprimary to secondary school (pupils aged 9 to 14). This project involved UK, Italy,Cyprus and the Czech Republic; and he noted that these countries are experiencing thee ects that ethnic minorities are having on their school population. As school classesbecome less culturally homogeneous, methods o teaching mathematics have to be re-examined. From their experience, the control o the curriculum, and any modi cationsthat teachers may see necessary, have to con ront the political ideologies o the govern -ments concerned.


2/5


3/5

273

TA

Thematic

Afternoon B

are connected with equivalent cognitive conficts and how they infuence the learning o mathematics more generally. For the purposes o this project she relied on ethno-graphic material, some o which she reported at the con erence.

The third paper in this sub-theme was by Victor Zinger rom University o AlaskaSoutheast at Ketchikan, USA, and was called Key issues o teaching mathematics to

Alaska Native students. Victor shared his experience in using the state-wide exit exam-ination (High School Graduation Quali ying Exam-HSGQE) as a valuable and fexibletool to increase the e ectiveness o learning and understanding mathematics by nativestudents. He argued that the implementation and urther development o the teaching program he described, with classroom practices based on the teachers cultural aware-ness, wide usage o culturally sound mathematics with high expectations, understanding,and community involvement would help eliminate the per ormance gap o the nativestudents on the HSGQE, and increase their overall level o understanding.

Sub-theme 3:

Social and political contexts for mathematics educationIn Sub-theme 3, the rst paper was by Frank Davis , Lesley University, Cambridge, MA,USA and was entitled The Algebra Project social movement and educational interven-tion. This talk was about the work o the Algebra Project, Inc., ounded by Robert Moses,a noted civil rights activist and mathematics educator in the USA. The talk described theprojects work as both acilitating a social movement and mounting an educationalintervention. However, these two aces o the project raised di erent types o evaluationand research questions that are di cult to link. Davis analyzed this di culty throughthe idea o communities o practice, and suggested that a distinction should be madebetween practices aimed at engineering a solution to an educational problem or creat-ing a new design, and practices aimed at intervening within a current set o practices,or what can be characterized as nding the what works solutions.

The second paper in this sub-theme was International and global contexts inmathematics education: riends or oes? by Bill Atweh , o the Queensland University o Technology, Australia. This paper presented rstly various arguments about the prosand cons o the international and globalised contexts o mathematics education. Healso summarised some ndings arising rom a research study with mathematics educa-tors in many countries on internationalisation and globalisation o mathematics educa-tion. Finally Atweh proposed a model o social justice as a use ul tool to study interna-

tional collaborations in mathematics education in global and international contexts. This model involved consideration o the our constructs o Aid, Development,Multiculturalism, and Critical Collaboration.

The third paper in this sub-theme was by Lena Licon Khisty rom the University o Illinois at Chicago, USA, and was called Language diversity and language practices:

Why should mathematics educators care? In this paper she discussed the nature o academic discourse and its connection to academic socialization processes and compe-tence in mathematics particularly or linguistically diverse students. She argued that tounderstand development is to understand the relationship o how language is used inclassrooms, which cultural language is used, and how students participate within thelanguage structures. Two studies were reviewed to highlight these ideas. It was suggestedthat these concepts are crucially linked to e ective instruction o mathematics withlinguistically diverse students, i they are to be ull participants in their respective soci-eties.


4/5

274

TA

Thematic

Afternoon B

Sub-theme 4:Equity in mathematics education: Culture, gender, and social classFor Sub-theme 4, the rst paper was by Marta Civil o the University o Arizona, USA and was called Lessons learned rom research on the intersection o culture, social class,and mathematics education: implications or equity. This paper drew on research aimedat connecting school mathematics with everyday experiences in low-income, Latino /Hispanic communities in the Southwest o the USA. The author discussed the challengesin developing school learning experiences in mathematics that acknowledge and buildon the resources and experiences rom the community. Some o these challenges haveto do with the di erent values and belie s associated with di erent orms o knowledgeand how these di erences infuence the implementation o certain orms o mathema-tics in school. There are two groups o people who played a key role in the researchapproach used: the teachers (i.e., what support mechanisms are needed to help teachersimplement these culturally-based teaching innovations?) and the parents (i.e., what do

we mean by viewing parents as intellectual resources?).

The second paper was by Maitree Inprasitha rom Khon Kaen University, Thailand,and was called Re orming the learning processes in school mathematics in Thailand

with an emphasis on mathematical processes. This talk centred around three themes:1) to investigate learning processes in school mathematics o elementary and

junior high school students using open-ended problems,2) to construct a model or developing students learning processes by imple-

menting open-ended problems and meta-cognitive strategy, and3) to disseminate the developed model to mathematics teachers in the Khon

Kaen provincial areas.

The third paper in this sub-theme was by Marcelo Borba , o the State University o SoPaulo at Rio Claro, Brazil, and was called Social dimensions o internet based distancemathematics education in Brazil. In the education community in Brazil at large, posi-tions have emerged that oppose the haste and super ciality o the distance coursescompared with the ace-to- ace courses. In this presentation the author showed that distance education is important or a country that has 75% o the GNP in just one part o the country. He also showed data about how Internet-based continuing mathematicsteacher education is already taking place in Brazil, and he discussed the problems andpossibilities o this modality o education as means o mitigating social inequality.

Conclusion The brie descriptions above give little indication o the depth o the papers, and o theinteresting discussions which ollowed in the small group sessions which were organisedespecially to enable the participants to interact with the speakers. It was exciting andrevealing to see the range o social and cultural contexts in which the current researchis being carried out, as well as the di erent oci o the studies. Each paper, as well aseach sub-theme, indicated promising agendas or urther research. They amply demon-strated the potential and signi cance o this research area or enabling greater numberso learners to bene t rom a relevant mathematics education instead o su ering andailing under a socially irrelevant and culturally exclusive one.


5/5

275

TA

Thematic

Afternoon B

For copies of their papers, please contact the authors whose emails are given below:Bill [email protected] Bishop [email protected] Borba [email protected] Marta Civil [email protected] [email protected] Inprasitha [email protected]

Lena Licon Khisty [email protected] Jerry [email protected] [email protected] Charoula Stathopolou [email protected] Yun [email protected] Victor Zinger [email protected]

This report was written by Alan Bishop and Pedro Gomez. They will be happy to be contacted [email protected] and [email protected] further information on the work of this Thematic Afternoon.
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]

bishop. mathematics education in society and culture

Documents