Multicultural Mathematics Research Articles

Analysis of multicultural mathematics learning with RACISM and students' social attitudes

Multicultural learning is a strategy for creating a learning environment and designing a learning experience that integrates culture as part of the learning process. In multicultural learning, culture becomes a method for students to transform the results of their observations into creative forms and principles of nature so that the role of students is not merely to imitate or receive information, but to act as a creation of meaning and understanding. Subjects such as Citizenship Education, Social Sciences, Natural Science, Cultural Arts and Skills are considered to contribute to multicultural learning, but mathematics subjects can also contribute. The research aimed to find out how the use of multicultural learning in mathematical learning, on flat building materials, affected students' racism and social attitudes. This is a qualitative descriptive study that uses the interview method to gather data. The results will be qualitatively analyzed. Interviews were conducted to find out how multiculturalism is integrated into learning, how knowledge construction is built through cultural influences, how prejudice reduction occurs, how equality pedagogy is implemented, how the empowerment of school culture occurs in the learning process, and how it impacts in tackling racism and social attitudes of students after using such learning.

Preschool Teachers’ Opinions on the Mathematics Learning Process of Immigrant Children

A limited number of studies on the cognitive learning processes of immigrant children reveal that children have difficulties in learning mathematics. Studies to date have generally been carried out to understand teachers' experiences in multicultural mathematics learning environments. However, it is important to understand children’s own experiences to ensure that every child has access to quality mathematics education. This study aims to explore the mathematics learning process of immigrant children in the preschool period through teacher opinions. The study was designed with a case study, one of the qualitative research designs. The participants consist of 10 preschool teachers determined by purposive sampling. The data were obtained through semi-structured interviews. The interviews were transcribed and the data were analyzed by content analysis. The findings showed that teachers believed that the immigrant children in their classrooms have mathematical skills appropriate for their age or at a higher level. Teachers stated that immigrant children have difficulties in understanding and naming mathematical concepts and performing some mathematical skills. It has been determined that teachers play an organizer, facilitator and collaborative roles in the mathematics learning of immigrant children.

Pre-service Mathematics Teachers’ Multicultural Mathematics Competency: A Case of a University in Northern Thailand

This study aimed to explore pre-service mathematics teachers’ perceptions of their strengths and deficiencies in dealing with students from diverse mathematics cultural backgrounds. The pre-service mathematics teachers in the final year at a university located in Northern Thailand were participants. The survey and focus group interview were manipulated to attain more profound confirmation about how the pre-service mathematics teachers performed in their diverse mathematics classrooms. The pre-service mathematics teachers’ strengths and deficiencies were represented and divided into the affective, cognitive, and psychomotor domains. Their strengths included 1) consciousness about the multicultural processes, 2) acknowledgment of students’ sources of resistance, and 3) possession of a feedback cycle for dealing with diverse mathematics classrooms. Nevertheless, it was found their deficiencies, including 1) unawareness of multicultural diversity through many perspectives, 2) limited knowledge to handle irrelevant students’ culture, and 3) lack of skills to respond to a problem existing such as time limits. The implication included that pre-service mathematics teachers should have the opportunity to 1) interact with other different cultural mathematics backgrounds, 2) study more content courses about multicultural mathematics, and 3) engage in various activities involving multiculturalism and be exposed to multicultural instruction courses.

ETHNOMATHEMATICS

In mathematics education ethnomathematics is the study of the relationship between mathematics and culture. Often associated with cultures without written expression, it may also be defined as the mathematics which is practiced among identifiable cultural groups. It refers to a broad cluster of ideas ranging from distinct numerical and mathematical systems to multicultural mathematics education. The goal of ethnomathematics is to contribute both to the understanding of culture and the understanding of mathematics, and mainly to lead to an appreciation of the connections between the two.

수학교사의 다문화수학수업 설계역량 분석

This research aims to investigate the teachers’ pedagogical design capacity for multicultural mathematics education. For the purpose, we collected teaching plans developed by inservice teachers who registered in a multicultural mathematics teacher education course of graduate level. The analysis focused on how the teachers reorganized mathematical contents and adapted instructional strategies in order to achieve the instructional goals. The analysis shows that the teachers applied the ‘Principle of Equity’ most frequently compared to other principles of multicultural mathematics education. This means that it is necessary to provide teacher education programs to enhance teachers’ understanding of ethnomathematics and to develop PCK to reorganize curricula contents by integrating ethnomathematics. Second, it was observed that the teachers experienced difficulty in adapting the levels of multicultural mathematics education coherently.
 This suggests that when teachers tried to design lessons from a new perspective, they often turned back to teacher-centered teaching practices that they had been used to. Third, in the teaching plans adapting the ‘Principle of Transformation’, although Level 4 appeared most frequently, mathematical contents and social issues were placed separately without being integrated. Although the course helped the teachers recognize the relationship between mathematics and human practice, the teachers might keep their previous beliefs about mathematics as academic knowledge separated from human life. Thus, this limitation may persist without a change of the teachers’ beliefs regarding the cultural origin of mathematics. Based on the results, we draw implications for the future development of multicultural mathematics teacher education.

Current Changes in Primary Education: The issue of “different” in a primary school mathematics classroom

In the setting of the transformation of our societies to become multicultural ones, we intend in this paper to examine situations in a mathematics classroom where respect for, and exclusion of, the ‘different’ co-exist. Conducting an instrumental case study, we follow two Grade 4 groups while they are solving a mathematics generalization task. We examine how the interaction that took place between the members of the teams mirrors the two faces of the same coin (i.e. the culture of the classroom) and at the same time reflects the change in the primary classroom that necessitates openness and genuine respect for the ‘different’. On the one hand, we will demonstrate the dynamic of the harmony that was apparent between the members of one of the groups since the ‘different’ was not a barrier but a source of mathematical ideas that contributed to the solution. On the other hand, the lack of openness in the other group resulted in good opportunities for ‘doing mathematics’ being missed and put the self-confidence of one of its members at risk. Keywords: classroom diversity and conflict, multicultural mathematics classroom, collaborative problem-solving

PROMOTING INCLUSIVE MATHEMATICS CLASSROOM PRACTICES IN THE SCHOOLS OF NEPAL: AN ETHNOGRAPHIC INQUIRY

The main aim of this study is to investigate the challenges faced by teachers while conducting inclusive mathematics classroom practices and to explore the possible ways for promoting inclusive mathematics classroom practices. The design of this study was in qualitative nature within ethnographic approach. I took interview with mathematics teachers and math educators as the research tools to collect the required data. I have maintained a dairy for the purpose of recording information at the time of interview with my key respondents. Every recorded data was transcribed, coded, build themes and triangulate themes. And, finally the study concluded with the findings: disengaged curriculum, non-participatory teaching/learning practice, follow monoculture practices in multicultural mathematics classroom, lack of technology integrated pedagogy, imbalance theory and practices were major challenges for implementing inclusive mathematics classroom practices. On the top of that, engaging students in the classroom, shifting from exams to diversified assessment, group work, use of technology appropriately, encouragement students to participate the learning process, using different strategies in teaching – learning mathematics in the classroom, teaching mathematics linking with students daily life context, implementing collaborative learning, implementing equity pedagogy in the mathematics classroom , teaching mathematics through dialogical approaches and comprehensive assessment system are found as the means for good inclusive practices.

Exploring Implementation of Multicultural Mathematics Education in Northern Thai Classrooms

Exploring Implementation of Multicultural Mathematics Education in Northern Thai Classrooms

ICT Integrated Pedagogy in a Multicultural Classroom: Experiences of Mathematics Teacher

Multiculturalism in the present context is a global issue in education. It has not yet been materialized into the education system in Nepal. The education system of a country should prepare students to function in today’s multicultural society. In this regards, this paper focuses on the issues of the management of multicultural classes, and the role of ICT-integrated pedagogy to manage such a classroom context. It also discusses the context, and experiences of teachers that can bring the multicultural classroom situation into the right track. For this purpose, I apply narrative inquiry of two mathematics teachers (one male and one female) of University Campus Kirtipur with more than seven-year experience. In-depth interview, related to their experiences and practices in multicultural mathematics classes, was conducted and found that they face problems to teach students in a multicultural classes such as language problem, content problem, and level of understanding. There are two types of multiculturalism in our classes they are critical multiculturalism, and Liberal multiculturalism. The management of multiculturalism is a great challenge for teachers. Although teachers are less familiar with the management of multicultural class, they try to manage such types of diversity by supporting their students personally through ICT-integrated pedagogy. The finding of the study shows that ICT-integrated pedagogy is the best strategy to manage multicultural classes by respecting students’ personal feelings.

Integrating Multicultural Children's Math Books Into Kindergarten Through Sixth-Grade Classrooms: Preservice Teachers' Reflections

ABSTRACTThis case study of mathematics instruction using children's literature reports on the experiences 47 elementary preservice teachers had in their mathematics methods course while completing a microteaching assignment. As part of the microteaching assignment, preservice teachers were required to plan and teach mathematics lessons based on children's books that included both mathematics concepts and multicultural aspects. The preservice teachers audio-recorded their lessons, transcribed the audio, and wrote reflective essays to articulate their experiences. At the end of the assignment, the professor and two additional researchers interviewed the preservice teachers about their experiences. Themes that emerged were (a) teaching experiences, (b) teaching performance, and (c) learning purposes and tools for integrating multicultural children's math books. The Learning Purposes and Teaching Strategies for Integrating Multicultural Mathematics Picturebooks Framework was developed to demonstrate the intricate balance needed to ensure mathematics learning happens during instruction with multicultural mathematics picturebooks.

Elementary Mathematics Textbook Analysis from Multicultural Mathematics Education Perspective

Elementary Mathematics Textbook Analysis from Multicultural Mathematics Education Perspective

Mathematical expeditions: exploring word problems across the ages

A little bucket, one-third full, is 8 inches deep, and its upper and lower diameters are 7 inches and 6 inches, respectively. How large is the frog which, jumping into the bucket, causes the water to rise 3 inches? Word problems not unlike this example are a staple on math tests and of abiding interest to students, teachers, and professional mathematicians alike. Frank Swetz, a highly regarded mathematics educator, gathers hundreds of these problems in this fun and fascinating introduction to mathematics from around the world. Mathematical Expeditions is a collection of over 500 culturally and historically diverse mathematical problems carefully chosen to enrich mathematics teaching from middle school through the college level. What better way to teach students the multicultural aspects of math than by assigning them problems first composed on clay tablets by Babylonian scribes, included in the Rhind papyrus, or Vedic problems scratched on tree bark? From Egypt to Greece to China to India, Swetz's problems - both practical and abstract - span centuries and cultures. Swetz has organized the problems by culture and historical period, showing, through the various constructs and contexts of the problems, the history and development of mathematics throughout the world. Along the way, he tells us what various cultures knew about math and how they came to learn it, providing instructors with a wonderful way to incorporate multicultural mathematics into the middle school, high school, and college classroom.

다문화수학교육의 원리와 방법

1990년대 이후 이주민의 증가는 정치, 경제, 문화, 교육 등 우리 사회 전반에 걸쳐 다문화교육에 대한 담론의 활성화와 다양성과 차이를 존중하는 패러다임으로의 전환을 촉구하고 있다. 이러한 맥락에서 본 연구에서는 다문화수학교육의 개념 및 목적, 다문화수학교육과정의 유형, 교수법 원리를 고찰하고 사회경제적 계층, 성별, 인종, 민족에 대한 소수집단을 위해 실행된 다문화수학교육 프로그램 운영 사례를 검토하여 우리나라의 교육적 요구를 반영하는 다문화수학교육의 원리와 방법을 탐색하였다. 구체적으로, 본 논문에서는 다문화수학교육의 목표를 ‘주체성’, ‘대화성’, ‘접근성’의 관점에서 제시하였고, 이를 실천하기 위한 교수-학습 원리로서 ‘문화성’, ‘평등성’, ‘개혁성’을 제안하였다. 이러한 다문화수학교육의 목표와 교수-학습 원리를 바탕으로, 한국 다문화사회의 특성을 반영하여 우리나라 교육 현장에 토착화 가능한 교육모델로 구체화하기 위해 고려해야할 사항에 대한 논의를 제시하였다.

다문화수학교사교육 강의 운영 사례연구: 수학과 예비교사의 다문화적 역량 변화에 대한 효과

본 연구에서는 다문화적 역량을 갖춘 미래의 수학교사 양성을 위해 개발한 다문화수학교사교육 강의를 실행하는 과정에서 수집한 반성저널, 강의평가 설문지, 기말면담과 수업녹취록의 분석에 기초하여 개발강의가 예비수학교사의 다문화적 역량의 개발에 주는 효과를 탐구하였다. 자료 분석 결과, 개발강의에 참여하였던 예비수학교사들은 학기 초반 ‘민족’이나 ‘인종’과 같이 거시적 수준의 문화적 주체를 중심으로 다문화 교육을 개념화하였으며 강의를 통해 점차 ‘학생’이나 ‘교사’와 같이 미시적 수준의 문화적 주체를 중심으로 다문화교육을 개념화해가는 것을 볼 수 있었다. 또한, 암묵적인 측면의 문화를 인정하고 학교수학 이외의 수학을 다양성의 관점에서 바라보는 태도를 수용하는 등 정의적인 측면에서도 변화가 있었다. 그리고 참여와 실천을 강조하는 수업 활동을 통해 다문화수학교육이론에 관한 이해가 이론적 수준에서 실제적 수준으로 변화해가는 것을 볼 수 있었다. 마지막으로, 강의에 참여한 예비수학교사의 관점에서 예비수학교사들의 다문화적 역량 함양에 긍정적으로 기여한 강의방법의 효과를 평가하여 다문화교사교육과정의 후속 개발연구와 운영에 대한 시사점을 논의하였다.

A Course in Multicultural Mathematics

The course described in this article, 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. In addition, the course is designed to explore the connections between mathematics and the arts, to engage students' imagination and creativity, and to increase the diversity of offerings in the mathematics classroom. This article details a course in multicultural mathematics for liberal arts and education majors I have been teaching for several years. The first three sections describe the rationale, structure, and main topics of the course. Sample projects and questions for class work and discussion are provided in the final two sections. An extensive source list is included.

Cultural distance and identities-in-construction within the multicultural mathematics classroom

In this paper we present and exemplify our interpretation of some theoretical constructs that have proved useful to our understanding of the complexity of multicultural mathematics classrooms. Constructs such as culture, cultural distance, cultural conflict and identities-in-construction have oriented our study of the complexity of highly multicultural mathematics classrooms in Barcelona. The purpose of this paper is to discuss how cultural distance arising from the different meanings that students, being local or immigrant, inevitably bring to the mathematics classroom may turn into cultural conflicts when cultural interaction is not facilitated through classroom discourse. The lack of cultural interaction and communication may give rise to strong negative feedings and refusal to participate on the side of the students. Students' nonparticipation can be understood as an active response to cultural distance and negative opinions in order to safeguard the identities they (wish to) construct within a context that they perceive as hostile.

Multicultural Mathematics Instruction: Approaches and Resources

Mathematics, like all other subject areas, is embedded in cultural contexts. Cultural background frames the way we look at the world. It pervades the whole of who we are and strongly influences our perspectives, manner of thinking and communicating, and other ways of processing and interacting with our surroundings. Clearly, culture is much more at the heart of people than are surface-level customs, such as style of dress or common cuisine. Adding cultural content to instruction is inappropriate, therefore, if the content is merely grafted onto a topic, included as an optional or “extra” feature, or treated superficially.

Do Numbers Have Shapes? Connecting Number Patterns and Shapes through the Vedic Matrix

As teachers who are interested in integrating non-Western mathematics activities into our lessons, we decided to teach number patterns through the Vedic (pronounced “Vaydik”) matrix. This stimulating activity, which is found in Vedic mathematics from India, investigates patterns using the numbers 1 through 9. The premise underlying the Vedic matrix is that numbers form symmetrical “shapes” (Nelson, Joseph, and Williams 1993). This approach to teaching developmentally appropriate mathematics content contrasts with the “tourist curriculum” approach in which students view multicultural mathematics activities as fun but not as essential for mathematical learning (Davidson and Kramer 1997). The tourist curriculum, according to Derman-Sparks as cited in Davidson and Kramer, trivializes the curriculum and does not address the real-life problems and experiences of different cultures.

A Teacher‐Researcher Perspective on Designing Multicultural Mathematics Experiences for Preservice Teachers

A Teacher‐Researcher Perspective on Designing Multicultural Mathematics Experiences for Preservice Teachers

In My Opinion: Ethnomathematics and Multicultural Mathematics Education

For over a decade, teachers, administrators, elders, and other community members of the Yup’ik Eskimo villages in southwest Alaska have been planning ways to integrate traditional Yup’ik mathematics and science into the school curriculum. introducing such topics as the Yup’ik base-twenty system of number words and the symmetry of patterns in clothing and basketry.