Concepts of positive deviance in pedagogical action in an Ethnomathematics program

Abstract

An important dilemma in mathematics education is its overwhelming bias against a local orientation in its research paradigm. Thus, a search for innovative methodologies such as ethnomathematics is useful for recording historical forms of mathematical ideas, procedures, and practices developed in diverse cultural contexts. It is important to highlight that an ethnomathematics program is not an attempt to replace academic mathematics. At the same time, it is necessary to acknowledge the existence of, and important contributions of local mathematical knowledge for inclusion in the mathematics curriculum. In this context, the insubordination triggered by much work in ethnomathematics is creative and often evokes a disturbance that causes a review of rules and regulations in many mathematics curriculum contexts. This process enables educators to use positive deviance to develop actions in order to deal with such norms. Thus, positive deviance involves an intentional act of breaking the rules in order to serve the greater good. This process increases the potential for continual growth in the debate about the nature of mathematics as it relates to culture since it proposes a dialogue between local and global approaches to the construction of mathematical knowledge.