Sa Danh is a Maths, Science and HPE teacher in a high school in Adelaide’s west! He has an interest in statistics and probability and the reason being, he can utilise this throughout all subjects he teaches.
It was really interesting having a conversation with him, and about 5 other maths and science teachers whilst on placement, especially when I bought up the topic about ethno-mathematics, to their response, whaattt??
I had never heard of the term together before myself, but I am not a maths teacher, so it was surprising to hear that 5 experienced teachers also had not heard the concept. Once I broke the words down and explained it, they all reacted with ‘ohhhhh yes that makes sense now’.
Having in depth conversations with them, and also going through interview questions with Mr. Danh was eye opening, especially because I don’t have much experience in the classroom just yet!
Knowing that Mr. Danh didn’t have a lot of experience with ethno-mathematics himself, it was really informative to hear his responses to some of the questions with his spin on things.
The interview went as follows…
- How would you describe your mathematical pedagogy and how would you apply it?
I aim to provide students with learning opportunities beyond the textbook. Maths is traditionally textbook but I often find that students can become easily disengaged. I like to mix that up with a lot of group work and having students work as academic peers (creating their own questions for each other, marking each others’ work, explaining concepts, etc). try to find as much context to the real world as possible within the mathematics curriculum. Students will engage more effectively if they can identify the use of these concepts outside of the classroom – this might mean that we spend time outside of the classroom to facilitate learning episodes. - In what other ways do you utilise mathematics outside of the maths classroom? could be either in another class or outside in the real world…
Health and Physical Education is my major – we often use statistics and data analysis within our PE curriculum. This includes collecting data, analysing and interpreting data, while also identifying limitations within this data. Likewise in science. Numbers and maths are used in a plethora of ways in the real world – concepts within the curriculum come up in building, finance, design, sport, travelling – just to name a few. - After having explained what the term ehtno-mathematics means and stands for I asked; Have you used this term throughout any of your classes before (maths or other)?
This term specifically has not been used – however intercultural understanding is embedded within curriculum both within the AC and SACE through the general capabilities. The general capabilities has become a focal point for curriculum development in recent times and the importance of implementing them within task design continues to grow. As a result, we are seeing rich tasks being developed through the lens of intercultural understanding. This means finding ways to assist students in developing their own values and beliefs, while being appreciative of those others. This allows students to identify commonalities that they might not have been previously aware of, while also creating connections through the differences they possess, ultimately cultivating mutual respect and understanding. - It is said that a basic understanding of ethno-mathematics allows teachers to expand their mathematical perceptions and more effectively instruct their students, do you agree with this? lets discuss…
Implementing an ethno-mathematic approach in a classroom would allow students to explore their own and others’ identities through numerical concepts and understanding. This would expand the base at which the students can relate to the content, which in turn engages them further into the learning. Thus allowing teachers to promote greater intellectual stretch through their instructional processes. - Teachers and the general public usually would not say that mathematics and culture are connected, Discuss this statement.
When considering mathematics the first thing that usually comes to mind is processes pertaining to numbers. To many, numbers are acknowledged as a universal language of sorts. There is no language barrier when dealing with numbers, everyone counts on their fingers the same. I suppose this is why people often fail to draw a link between culture and mathematics – because of the commonalities of working with numbers across all demographics. - It is also said that when teachers do acknowledge a connection between culture and mathematics, that students are engaged in multicultural activities, often, only because the teacher doesn’t understand fully how to achieve this and the activities don’t really link to classroom content. How would you invite culture into the mathematics classroom?
The first way to invite culture in a classroom would be to recognise the uniqueness of the cohort. By encouraging identity awareness and acceptance in students. By doing this, students feel free to express themselves and their values. By sharing these values, other students can gain an appreciation of the various other identities and values that are present within their learning environment. - Have you ever thought about the link between culture and mathematics, if so how? If not, why?
Not to the extent that I have currently during this interview process. I think perhaps due to reasons like I have mentioned before – the fact that numbers can be considered a universal language. - Do you think that there is a link with culture and maths, and how would you apply this to your pedagogy and classroom teaching practices?
The link to culture and maths is that while mathematical expressions use universal symbols, mathematical knowledge and application has its own origin within different cultures. This can be explored by providing diverse contexts and cultural perspectives within the classroom – perhaps looking into the mathematical processes from a historical context and instances in the past where they have been used. - Would you be interested in using ethno-mathematics in your classroom? and if so how would you go about achieving this?
I would be interested. To be honest I would need to look more deeply into ways to implement this, however if the research suggests that it will improve student learning outcomes then I would definitely consider this. Accessing modern technologies would be an effective way of achieving this to explore digital learning environments that provide students with problems across different cultures and contexts. - Do you agree that ethno-mathematics has a place inside the maths classroom?
Yes!! - Anything else you would like to add? Either about ethno-mathematics, or your own mathematics work, being a maths teacher, the curriculum, your pedagogy, anything..?
Often as Maths teachers, we find ourselves under a lot of curriculum pressure. The amount of content that is require to be covered in the Australian Curriculum can sometimes feel quite difficult to fit into a semester/year. As a result, implementing strategies based on unfamiliar ideas (such as ethno-mathematics) might be discouraged. However, there is also a common issue within teaching maths of students being unable to identify or appreciate the context of which the content is delivered. Perhaps ethno-mathematics could be an effective way of providing students with authentic learning experiences that engage them in maths curriculum, ultimately leading to improved student outcomes. If this is the case, incorporating ethno-mathematics would definitely be included in my pedagogical approach.
I absolutely agree with the responses Mr. Danh has given in regards to implementing ehtno-mathemathics in the classroom.
Thank you Mr. Danh for the insightful look into being a mathematics teacher and your opinion on the use of ethno-mathemtics in and out of the classroom.
It was very intuitive and I very much appreciate your precious time!
Ethnomathematics 