What is Ethnomathematics?
When culture, mathematics, and education activities are combined, this mixture is referred to as ethnomathematics. Many societies have different mathematical traditions and have developed various strand of mathematical thought. Teaching mathematics with respect to culture is one way to respect diversity within the classroom. Students can be personally engaged in mathematics by examining their own culture’s impact on the way they use, practice, and think about mathematics.
Mathematics within other cultures proves an opportunity for students to “put faces” on mathematics instead of erroneously thinking that mathematics is a result of some mystical phenomenon. Another word for Ethnomathematics, can also be Multicultural Mathematics:
“Multicultural Mathematics, aims to strengthen and expand students’ understanding of fundamental mathematics—number systems, arithmetic, geometry, elementary number theory, and mathematical reasoning—through study of the mathematics of world cultures.”
There are many ways to approach mathematics from a cultural perspective (e.g., biographies of mathematicians, historical development of concepts, games, children’s literature, and thematic units). Mathematics is the byproduct of human ideas, creativity, problem solving, recreation, beliefs, values and survival.
Contributions to the field of mathematics come from diverse people all over the world. Many women and people of color who made important contributions to mathematics have been overlooked.
Examples:
Teaching adding, subtraction, division and multiplication in a fun way which certain cultures would find to be more useful rather than the normal 3+3 or 3 x 2
Grids and graphs, practically:
Flower mandalas for teaching design and measuring, using colors to calculate diameter, circumference and radius. By using compasses to create symmetry:
The same mathematical problem, used for different cultures over years. Breaking loose from the normal a, c, x, y :
Cookie baking mathematics! How fun! This could help a small child with + , - , x and even division which would make more sense to them than seeing it on paper:
Very informative :D
La etnomatemática puede servir como estrategia de enseñanza de esta área, en tal sentido queda enmarcado en el aprendizaje significativo de Ausubel. Estos aspectos culturales de la matemática debe ser incluídos como parte de la formación en matemática, porque de esta manera se explicaría el carácter pluscultural de la matemática.
Upvoted by Emma
Integrating culture with math is a great way to math math more meaningful for students. Thank you for the post.
Thanks for your comment ;)
Very informative, my son goes to a school where they incorporate art into their maths syllabus, works wonders! Much love, @sweetpea
That's wonderful @sweetpea. I'm sure he'll be a math genius one day.
Those boring maths just didn't do it for me is school.
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Thanks - upvoted and resteemed. I'd like to include a link to this article in the next Math-Trail Magazine - hope that's OK with you!
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Thank you for an inspiring and beautifully illustrated post. I would go back to school if I could find such a class / approach, to review and retrieve my lost math soul!
Thanks @nik9, and I agree. This could've made all the difference back then and even now.
My math teacher always joked with us and said, "Maths is the study of witchcraft". One day she even dressed up as a witch.
Haha. She wasn't wrong and she made sure her class would remember that day's work...and also remember her...forever! lol
Perfect, I studied ethnology yet never heard of ethnomathematics I love to learn something new.
Thank you for reading and learning new things ;)