Week #11

1. Think back on your experience of the teaching and learning of mathematics- were there aspects of it that were oppressive and/ or discriminating for you or other students?
2. Reading #2 identify at least three ways in which Inuit mathematics challenge Eurocentric ideas about the purpose of mathematics and the way we learn it.

In my experience learning mathematics was fun and I really enjoyed it. For me I always loved that there was a right or wrong answer. I liked that even if a teacher did not like me in high school, they could not be bias in marking my tests because there was a very clear answer. When I was in elementary school, I really struggled in school I started to fall behind, and every year school was just getting harder and harder because I kept of falling behind. I really fell between the cracks in elementary school because I ask a lot of questions and we had a very large class in my grade 2 year, so I did not get very much attention at all. So when it came to math I remember being so confused because I had no idea what was going on in class and the same reason why I love math now was the reason why I hated math when I was younger. Because there is only one right answer and the teachers only know one way of explaining why that answer is the answer. Why math I understand why so many people struggle with it because if it isn’t taught in the way that makes sense in your brain that you will be completely confused and your grades will be low. But I believe that if a teacher can explain it in a way that makes sense to you then most people would realize that math is not really that challenging.

In reading the reading the three things that stand out to me the most by challenging the Eurocentric ideas are mathematics and language, mathematics and culture, and teaching methods. With mathematics and language, the Inuit mathematics challenges Eurocentric ideas because math is not taught in the same language. Inuit’s learn mathematics in their own language until grade 3 and then they switch either into English or French. This is not ideal because the language transition is hard as well it is not the best to have to take a subject in a different language because it gives the impression that the Inuit language is not complete. The second idea that is challenged is mathematic and culture. With this, the Inuit culture used a base 20 system in their language as well as their everyday understanding of the world. Whereas we use a base 10 system. With this minor difference, there is a change in the mathematics that we learn. Inuit’s also do not find importance to mathematics in their culture. The purpose of mathematics in our culture is so that we can get a good university education. But Inuit’s do not find a purpose in their day-to-day lives because the Pythagorean theorem the way we are taught will not help them in their lives. In their lives, they have other talents that will not be reflected in their mathematics grade. By only judging a small portion of what mathematics is in the Eurocentric idea they are being graded on things that they do not understand and now being graded on things that they excel at like “Nine Men’s Morris”. The final, idea is challenged in the way that we are taught. In the Inuit culture, most of their knowledge is learned through conversations and listening to elders. So, to learn through writing and reading a textbook is not how they normally learn things. It is just like how some students need examples to learn, others need to just listen, and others need to see it. We are all different and yet the way math is taught is the same. I think that the challenges that the Inuit mathematics will make to the Eurocentric mathematics are a step towards a future of all students loving mathematics.