The reading by Leroy Little Bear titled Jagged worldviews colliding described the power of colonialism on the worldviews of society, including education. The teaching and learning of mathematics simply occurred through the lens of western education. The content we learned was strictly related to Western society and the way we were taught the information was very colonial. When we were learning, it was typically done in the “teacher stands at the front and lectures while students sit in neat tidy rows writing down the important information”. Directly after our learning period we would be sent to work on our assignment or practice questions, in an individual nature. This method of teaching was used throughout the entirety of math courses from Kindergarten to Grade 12 Calculus. The downfall to this method is that the majority of students have an extremely difficult time learning this way. This led to a pretty widespread hatred towards math. However, there is a simple fix to most of this methodology towards teaching mathematics. Including more interactive and engaging lessons, and allowing students to experience their learning through a variety of hands-on-activities. Instead of simply focusing on the objectives of teaching (quantity), there needs to be a switch to teaching quality lessons.
Additionally, in some of the higher-level mathematics courses we learn how to apply math to our current westernized society. At no point did we have any discussions surrounding Indigenous ways of knowing and understanding of mathematics. In all honesty, I didn’t even think to realize that there was a different way of understanding math. Due to colonization, I believe that we took on this view that Eurocentric knowledge of mathematics was the only way of knowing math while the fact is Indigenous groups have their own understandings of mathematics. Lastly, I would like to bring up the fact that singularity holds a strong grip over mathematics. Oftentimes, mathematical knowledge is presented as there’s only one answer and only one way to get that answer. It’s a simple and linear approach to achieving the goal: getting the right answer. In most cases, math isn’t that simple and there can be an entire variety of approaches that will allow students to arrive at the correct answer, even if it’s not “the teachers way”.
The second reading, Teaching mathematics and the Inuit community, by Poirer, introduced myself to understanding how different mathematics can look in other cultures. Specifically, this reading focused on the learning processes and understandings of math by Inuit peoples. This outlines many ways that Inuit mathematics challenges the Eurocentric ideas about the purposes of mathematics and the way that we learn it. Many of these differences occur in the ‘counting’ understanding of math. In Inuit teachings, math was traditionally an oral subject and in order for expression through characters, they had to borrow from the European numerical system. To further this, the numerical system is a base-20 numeral system with the numbers 20 and 400 being pivotal numbers. Due to the oral nature of mathematics, there are very precise languages used by the Inuit to describe the context in which a number is being used. For example, three objects are referred to as “pingasut” while the number three is referred to as “pingasuk”. The second understanding of math that differs between these two cultures is localization or spatial awareness. We often think of spatial awareness in different ways across cultures, but this isn’t something highlighted in the current education system. Inuit students learn about spatial awareness in ways that highlight their locations, such as being able to locate themselves in cases of survival. For example, in the case of a snow storm or limited visibility, students understand how they are able to locate the nearest point of safety. Lastly, another main point of differing understanding is through the measuring of different systems. In the western world, we are very definitive about our measurements, whether that is time or distance or clothing sizes. We use defined months and other defined times of measurement. However, in the case of the Inuit peoples, they have their own definition of measurements. For example, their year is measured by months, but the months are based around natural, independently occurring events. These events may vary in their length, such as the caribou shedding the velvet off their antlers. The time this takes may vary, but there is a mutual understanding of this measurement of time.
It is wrong for us to believe that mathematics is understood universally, and as future educators, we must take the time to learn and know other culture’s understandings of mathematics. It is also our duty to help convey this message to students through a variety of learning experiences.
Resources:
LittleBear, Leroy. “ Jagged Worldviews Colliding: Reclaiming Indigenous voice and vision.” UBC Press, 2000, LittleBear2000JaggedWorldViewsColliding.pdf – Google Drive. Accessed 4 November 2021.
Poirier, Louise. “ Teaching Mathematics and the Inuit Community.” Canadian Journal of Science, Mathematics and Technology Education, vol. 7, no.1, 2007, pg. 53-67, Poirier(2007) Teaching mathematics and the Inuit community.pdf – Google Drive. Accessed 5 November 2021.
When reading your blog post, I found that I was able to relate to the student approach to learning about mathematics. Mainly in the form of the practice questions that students will have to do after class. There was never any mention of other possible ways of learning math or how what we are learning can be used outside of Western society. I agree that this needs to be changed through the approach to learning math although, I think for many educators the challenge that they will find the most difficult will be changing up the lesson structure that they have been using for so long.