Abstract
Abstract The ethnomathematical perspective implies substantial epistemological changes in mathematics conception with respect to the positivist tradition. This research focuses on a workshop for pre-service teachers, designed and developed under the ethnomathematical perspective, and which promotes reflection on the nature of mathematical knowledge. To that end, we analyzed the teachers’ answers about the nature of the mathematics described after the participation in this workshop. First, we identified some characteristic approaches of mathematics from the ethnomathematical perspective - the practical, social, and cultural approaches - and then used them to analyze the participants’ observations, which are considered as evidence of their conceptions about the nature of mathematical knowledge. Later, we grouped participants in profiles defined in relation to the incorporation of mathematics approaches according to Ethnomathematics. In conclusion, the workshop is shown as an environment conducive to reflection.
Highlights
Ethnomathematics has its roots in anthropological studies on the mathematics of indigenous people and it was created to recognize and describe the ideas and practices of different cultural groups, indigenous people, guilds, and communities (D’AMBROSIO, 1985; BARTON, 1996)
In Albanese, Adamuz-Povedano and Bracho-López (2017), two aspects are identified among the educational implications of Ethnomathematics: the first deals with the development of activities or experiences, in general in formal education settings, that bring school mathematics closer to the knowledge acquired outside school in the social and cultural environment; the second deals with the development of workshops in preservice or in-service teacher education for reflection on the nature of mathematical knowledge from a sociocultural perspective, with the ultimate aim of modifying the teaching practice through changes in the teachers’ beliefs or conceptions
The aim is to bring to the surface some mathematics conceptions that are framed within the socio-cultural perspective, as well as proposing a model for the interpretation of conceptions that takes into account socio-cultural nuances from an ethnomathematical perspective
Summary
Ethnomathematics has its roots in anthropological studies on the mathematics of indigenous people and it was created to recognize and describe the ideas and practices of different cultural groups, indigenous people, guilds, and communities (D’AMBROSIO, 1985; BARTON, 1996). In order to give meaning to the confrontation of different ethnomathematical perspectives, its purpose extended to a broader relativistic view of mathematical knowledge in relation to its development in different cultures (ALBANESE; ADAMUZ-POVEDANO; BRACHO-LOPEZ, 2017). This was done to explain why and how diverse individuals reveal different interests, talents, skills, and strategies to generate, organize, and share such knowledge. This new perspective draws on the contributions of diverse disciplines that share a relativistic stance (ALBANESE; PERALES, 2014). The aim is to bring to the surface some mathematics conceptions that are framed within the socio-cultural perspective, as well as proposing a model for the interpretation of conceptions that takes into account socio-cultural nuances from an ethnomathematical perspective
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