Ethnomathematics and indigenous teacher education: Waka migrations
Abstract
In order to assist Indigenous peoples to revive their language and culture, teachers need strategies to enhance both cultural and mathematical knowledge for students. This paper presents findings from a project in which pre-service teachers investigated ethnomathematical practices using the context of ancestral ocean voyages by canoes. This context was chosen because a primary identification marker for Māori are their ancestral canoes. The results indicated that these pre-service teachers did not generally associate these ancestral voyages with mathematical practices, indicating that more work is needed to increase their understandings of ethnomathematics. Their understandings about the knowledge and practices connected to traditional methods of navigation were disrupted by myths perpetuated by European colonists. Despite this, a renaissance in canoe building and interest in traditional navigation practices provided the pre-service teachers with valuable information.
Downloads
References
ANDERSON, Atholl. Changing perspectives upon Māori colonisation voyaging. Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand, v. 47, n. 3, p. 222-231, 2017.
BARTON, William. The language of mathematics: Telling mathematical tales. New York: Springer, 2008.
D’AMBROSIO, Ubiratan. The role of mathematics in building a democratic and just society. For the Learning of Mathematics, v. 10, n. 3, p. 20-23, nov. 1990.
D’AMBROSIO, Ubiratan; D’AMBROSIO, Beatriz Silva. The role of Ethnomathematics in curricular leadership in Mathematics Education. Journal of Mathematics Education at Teachers College, v. 4, n. 1, 2013.
DALE, Hemi; McCAFFERY, John; MCMURCHY-PILKINGTON, Colleen. Wetewete i te reo: immersion plus one. Paper presented at the meeting of NZARE, University of Auckland, 1997.
FERGUSON, Gary. Language planning and education. Scotland: Edinburgh University Press, 2006.
FINNEY, Ben. Myth, experiment, and the reinvention of Polynesian voyaging. American Anthropologist, v. 93, n. 2, p. 383-404, jun. 1991.
GERDES, Paulus. Conditions and strategies for emancipatory Mathematics Education in underdeveloped countries. For the Learning of Mathematics, v. 5, n. 3, p. 15-20, feb. 1985.
GERDES, Paulus. How to recognize hidden geometrical thinking? A contribution to the development of anthropological mathematics. For the Learning of Mathematics, v. 6, n. 2, p. 10-17, jun. 1986.
HANSON, Allan. The making of the Maori: culture invention and its logic. American Anthropologist, v. 91, n. 4, p. 890-902, dec. 1989.
HŌHEPA, Margie; HĀWERA, Ngārewa; TAMATEA, Karaitiana; HEATON, Sharyn. Te puni rumaki: strengthening the preparation, capability and retention of Māori medium teacher trainees. Hamilton: Wilf Malcolm Institute of Educational Research, University of Waikato, 2014.
JORGENSEN, Robyn; GROOTENBOER, Peter; NIESCHE, Richard; LERMAN, Stephen. Challenges for teacher education: the mismatch between beliefs and practice in remote Indigenous contexts. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, v. 38, n. 2, p. 161-175, 2010.
LEWIS, David. We the navigators: The ancient art of land finding in the pacific. Canberra: Australian National University Press, 1972.
MEANEY, Tamsin; TRINICK, Tony; FAIRHALL, Uenuku. Language Choice and ethnomathematics in the Pacific: transforming Education? Journal of Mathematics and Culture, v. 11, n. 3, p. 112-132, 2017.
MUNROE, Elizabeth; LUNNEY BORDEN Lisa, MURRAY ORR, Anne; TONEY, Denise; MEADER Jane. Decolonizing Aboriginal education in the 21st century. McGill Journal of Education, v. 48, n. 2, p. 317-337, 2013.
Ó LAOIRE, Muiris; HARRIS, John. Language and literacy in Irish-medium primary schools: review of literature. Ireland: National Council for Curriculum and Assessment/An Chomhairle Náisúnta Cuaclaim agus Measúnachta, 2006.
ORBELL, Margaret. The religious significance of Maori migration traditions. The Journal of the Polynesian Society, v. 84, n. 3, p. 341-347, sep. 1975.
POWELL, Arthur B; FRANKENSTEIN, Marilyn. Ethnomathematics: challenging eurocentrism in Mathematics Education. New York: State University of New York Press, 1997.
SHARP, Andrew. Ancient voyagers in Polynesia. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1963.
SHARP, Andrew. Ancient voyagers in the Pacific. Wellington: Polynesian Society, 1956.
TAONUI, Rāwiri. Canoe navigation – recent voyaging. Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, 2005.
TRINICK Tony; MEANEY, Tamsin; FAIRHALL, Uenuku. Reintroducing Māori ethnomathematical activities into the classroom: traditional Māori spatial orientation concepts. Revista Latinoamericana de Etnomatemática, v. 8, n. 2, p. 415-431, 2015.
TRINICK Tony; MEANEY, Tamsin; FAIRHALL, Uenuku. The contextual influences on teachers learning the registers for teaching and learning mathematics in another language. ZDM Mathematics Education, v. 46, n. 6, p. 953-965, aug. 2014.
TRINICK Tony; MEANEY, Tamsin; FAIRHALL, Uenuku. The relationship between language, culture and ethnomathematics. Journal of Mathematics and Culture, v. 10, n. 2, p. 175-191, 2016.
TRINICK, Tony. Te reo tātai: the development of a mathematics register for Māori-Medium schooling. 2015. Thesis (Doctorate in Education). University of Waikato. Hamilton, New Zealand.
TRINICK, Tony. The elaboration and intellectualization of Te Reo Māori: the role of initial teacher education. In MCKINLEY, Elizabeth Ann; SMITH, Linda Tuhiwai (Ed.). Handbook of Indigenous education. Singapore: Springer, 2018, p. 529-544.
TRINICK, Tony; MEANEY, Tamsin. Indigenous teacher education: when cultural enquiry meets statistical enquiry. In: DOWNTON, Ann; LIVY, Sharyn; HALL, Jennifer. (Ed.). 40 years on: we are still learning, Proceedings of the 40th annual conference of the mathematics education research group of Australasia. Melbourne: MERGA, 2017. p. 514-521.
TRINICK, Tony; MEANEY, Tamsin; FAIRHALL, Uenuku. Cultural and mathematical symmetry in Māori meeting houses (wharenui). In: ROSA, Milton; SHIRLEY, Lawrence; GAVARRETE, Maria Elena; ALANGUI, Willy. (Ed.). Ethnomathematics and its diverse approaches for mathematics education. New York: Springer, 2017, p. 235-255.
UNDERHILL, Peter A; PASSARINO, Giuseppe; LIN, Alice A; MARZUKI, Sangkot; OEFNER, Peter; CAVALLI‐SFORZA, Luigi Luca; CHAMBERS, Geoffrey K. Maori origins, Y-chromosome haplotypes and implications for human history in the Pacific. Human Mutation, v. 17, n. 4, p. 271-280, 2001.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
