Blog #6- Numeracy & Literacy
Part 1 (Numeracy): Using Gale’s lecture, Poirier’s article, and Bear’s article, identify at least three ways in which Inuit mathematics challenges Eurocentric ideas about the purpose of mathematics and the way we learn it.
1. Oral/ Storytelling. Storytelling is very different than the way we most commonly learn math. It challenges us to think about the words and build a foundation for what is being taught. By oral transmission, one must think critically about how they came to answers and why this education is essential in the real world.
2. Environmental. Inuit math challenges Eurocentric ideas by using their relationship with the environment to understand math; Inuit mathematics is incredibly connected to their knowledge of the environment. It is using practical aspects such as hunting, fishing, and navigating to problem solve.
3. Relationships & Experiences. Inuit education uses real-life experiences, people, and actions. an example used was when measuring they use their own arms to guide the lengths they need. these types of learning teach the students to think outside of the box and come to their own solutions in many different ways.
Part 2 (Literacy): Which “single stories” were present in your own schooling? Whose truth mattered? What biases and lenses do you bring to the classroom? How might we unlearn / work against these biases?
I grew up in a small city with many rural communities surrounding it. Growing up in a community With mainly small-town people who all think the same made it difficult to see past the biases and lenses. I feel like it wasn’t until I was in university that I truly understood that some of the things being said around me were full of lies and discrimination. I think it is important for teachers to be mindful of what they are teaching and express all the different sides of education. When I think back to my social studies classes I know learning about Indigenous education was always placed on the back burner and it disappoints me to think about how the Indigenous population in my school didn’t get to learn about their history in Canada like the majority of the other students did (even if the European history was incorrect). by teaching about the truth we can begin to unlearn/ work against these biases.
Hi, there I really enjoyed reading your post your points were very valid and very interesting in the second part about your experience. I really like how you explain with the oral storytelling when the Inuit were learning math it was not for them to add it to their everyday life but instead learning from different teachings from elders. having the environment for learning experiences really affected their lives and how math got incorporated they were not the type of culture that learned it out of a textbook but it was through the experiences they learned doing outdoor activities. As these students had different relationships they would learn to work together use their body parts to measure different things and use things around them to work. the real-life experiences definitely taught them more than not working in a textbook.
You are definitely 100 % the fact that elementary schools when we were in school did not teach much about indigenous education and were never a main priority that is not a good thing nowadays because the regular person they think why should we learn about their history and care about things that the white population cared about it is very sad as a teacher I definitely want to include much more teaching on the indigenous education as we see it all around us in our work and in our day to day lives.