Blog #12:
As stated by Leroy Little Bear in the Jagged Worldviews Colliding piece, “no matter how dominant a worldview is, there are always other ways of interpreting the world,” (2000). Though the state of Canada takes pride in being multicultural, its federal school systems strongly – and in some cases solely – focus on white, Eurocentric teaching practices and content. The “suppression of diversity in worldviews” can especially be seen in the subject of mathematics (Bear, 2000). In my education experience, math was only taught in one way, the “proper” way. Educators would teach one method and only that one method was held to be correct. If students used different methods, even if they got to the correct answer, it would be marked wrong and/or the student would be accused of cheating. This process not only limits different types of thinkers but also limits the use of alternative mathematical approaches. Thus, sending the message that critical, diverse thinking in math is not valued nor important.
Louise Poirier, in the article Teaching Mathematics in the Inuit Community, explores how Eurocentric ideas can be challenged using Inuit mathematics (2007). Here are three points I identified:
- Instead of teaching mathematics in traditional European ways, such as “paper-and-pencil exercises”, Inuit educators utilize traditional Inuit teaching methods such as “observing an elder or listening to enigmas,” (Poirier, 2007)
- Inuit mathematics uses a base-20 numeral system, whereas the norm in Western societies is base-10 numeral systems (Poirier, 2007)
- Inuit students learn mathematics in multiple languages – their mother language, English and French – whereas Western mathematics are typically limited to one language (Poirier, 2007). For example, in Saskatchewan French immersion students learn math in French from K-12, and the same goes for English students.
Sources
- Bear, L. L. (2000). Jagged worldviews colliding. In M. Batiste (Ed.), Reclaiming Indigenous voice and vision (pp. 77-85). UBC Press.
- Poirier, L. (2007). Teaching mathematics and the Inuit community, Canadian Journal of Science, Mathematics and Technology Education, 7(1), p. 53-67.
2 Comments
Mya Helgason
Hi Emma! Great blog post – as per usual! I really like how you opened up your post with the powerful quote: “no matter how dominant a worldview is, there are always other ways of interpreting the world”. I appreciate the three main points you identified – making this a very straightforward and informing read.
Safa'a Hassan
I like how you mentioned that in schools if you did not follow what the teachers where saying was the “proper” way then you would automatically be marked wrong. because I had to go through that fight with teachers too, coming from a family of engineers they always taught me different and easier ways to solve problems and the teachers would still mark them wrong because it wasn’t done the way they wanted it to be done. I think learning math in multiple languages allows those Inuit students to succeed more in the future and allow them to determine what method works best for them.