For this week’s article, we were asked to read Jagged worldviews colliding by Leroy Little Bear which focuses on the problem that colonialism can play in society. throughout this paper, he makes a lot of interesting connections on how colonialism can affect the teaching and learning of mathematics in schools. the article makes points about how the mathematic subject is oppressive and discriminating students by the use of western education in school systems. there is a great point about teaching that is often lost in western education and that is “education and socialization are achieved through praise, reward, recognition, and renewal ceremonies”. this would be more beneficial in my mind towards the teaching of mathematics as much of the learning is done through tests and assignments. throughout my experiences with mathematics in every level of school that I have taken is formed around right and wrong answers throughout a math unit. often I wish math was more inclusive as sometimes the smarter kids get all the attention and praise for good work where other students are punished for bad marks.
In the second article titled Teaching mathematics and the Inuit community by Poirier, he starts the article by stating that he is not an Inuit person but he wants to showcase the difference between mathematics in different cultures and societies. the focus of this article is the three core ways that Inuit mathematics challenge the Eurocentric ideas. the three core ways that this is seen is with the idea of counting. the first of the three listed was the idea of oral numeration as it can show how their people would express numbers and the core numbers of 20 and 400. the second is the sense of space and this is used to show the Inuit people that what they experience daily is quite different from other places. this can be shown through the representation of a student thinking about a different village or town and how that would affect their lives. the third and final way is seen as measuring, this largely consists of measuring body parts for the use of clothing. these are the three ways that mathematics is used in an Inuit setting.
LittleBear, Leroy. “ Jagged Worldviews Colliding: Reclaiming Indigenous voice and vision.” UBC Press, 2000, LittleBear2000JaggedWorldViewsColliding.pdf – Google Drive.
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.