Question: Part 1: At the beginning of the reading, Leroy Little Bear (2000) states that colonialism “tries to maintain a singular social order by means of force and law, suppressing the diversity of human worldviews. … Typically, this proposition creates oppression and discrimination” (p. 77). Think back on your experiences of the teaching and learning of mathematics — were there aspects of it that were oppressive and/or discriminating for you or other students? Part 2: After reading Poirier’s article: Teaching mathematics and the Inuit Community, identify at least three ways in which Inuit mathematics challenge Eurocentric ideas about the purposes of mathematics and the way we learn it.
Part 1: At the beginning of the reading, Leroy Little Bear (2000) states that colonialism “tries to maintain a singular social order by means of force and law, suppressing the diversity of human worldviews. … Typically, this proposition creates oppression and discrimination” (p. 77). Think back on your experiences of the teaching and learning of mathematics — were there aspects of it that were oppressive and/or discriminating for you or other students?
I personally did not have many experiences in math throughout high school although I did not think that math was discriminating towards others, as I do not understand how it could be. Probably because my school fought discrimination so it would not be involved within our classrooms.
Part 2: After reading Poirier’s article: Teaching mathematics and the Inuit Community, identify at least three ways in which Inuit mathematics challenge Eurocentric ideas about the purposes of mathematics and the way we learn it.
As you look at it, the cultural differences come to math and the way that others learn it. The Inuit people use measurement in a different way than the Westernized way of measuring. In Westernized math the measurements include a variety of things. The main one being through body size, for example, the palm of your hand. The main difference I can think of between Inuit and Westernized math is their clock. The Inuit see the clock as the sky, measuring time through the sun or the stars. Whereas, in Westernized math we see time on a clock as numbers. We are not taught how to read the sky, meaning we have to read the time through a clock. A 24-hour clock or a 12-hour clock. I see that it is important for teachers to recognize that students learn in many different ways.