Week 12: Mathematics in the Classroom

Mathematics is a subject that I feel is always held to high standards, but within math I always experienced that only certain students succeed. Personally I have always been fairly good at math, the numbers and theories have always made sense to me and it came easy. Despite my good experiences within my math classrooms I know while I was succeeding some of my peers who sat in the same lessons as me, struggled. Math, I feel has always been geared towards students who understand the content and there is very little room for difference or diversity. Mathematics I have always seen as either your answer is right or wrong, because that is how it was presented to me growing up. By acknowledging different ways of thinking and potentially out of the box analogies a new side of mathematics can be discovered, one that may be more beneficial for all students.

Three ways that I found Inuit Mathematics challenges Eurocentric ideas were:

  • The idea that the mathematical world is separate from the everyday world. In Eurocentric beliefs we see how math equations can help us in our everyday life but in Inuit Mathematics they move way from that idea and see it as two separate worlds.
  • That inĀ  grade 1,2 and 3, they learn in their own language as well as learning to count in their own language. I argue that this goes against Eurocentric ideas because they are not conforming right away to the expected norm and teaching in English.
  • Tradition Inuit teaching is shaped around “observing an elder or listening to enigmas” (Poirier, 2007, p.55). Inuit teaching moves away from the Eurocentric methods of pencil and paper exercises.

Sources Referenced

Poirier, L. (2007). Teaching mathematics and the Inuit community, Canadian Journal of Science, Mathematics and Technology Education, 7(1), p. 53-67.

One thought on “Week 12: Mathematics in the Classroom

  1. Jarhico, I really enjoyed reading your blog post this week! I have had very similar experiences with you in the math world and agree strongly with how you stated that in math your answer is either right or wrong and there’s really no in-between. I personally loved math growing up and it was one of my stronger subjects as well, however, like you said there were definitely some people within my class who would struggle a bit and would need that extra support. Overall, good job!!

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