In an attempt to make math "more engaging and inclusive," some teachers are teaching what's called ethnomathematics, writes Hechinger's Kate Rix. "Achievement gaps are in part a result of overly abstract math instruction that’s disconnected from student experience," say advocates.
In Oahu, Sydney Kealanahele launched a class on linear equations by asking eighth graders what they knew about kalo, or taro root. A boy talked about picking kalo with his grandmothers. Others discussed poi, the Hawaiian food made from mashed taro. Someone said there are fewer taro farms on Oahu.
That’s when Kealanahele guided the conversation to the whiteboard, plotting data on pounds of taro produced over time on a graph, which created a perfect descending line. The class talked about why there is less taro production, which led to a discussion about the shortage of farm labor.
Kealanahele was inspired by the ethnomathematics program at the University of Hawaii West Oahu, but says she doesn't have the time to do an ethno-lesson more than twice in three months.
Ancient Hawaiians slid down the side of the Hualālai Volcano in an extreme sport known as holua, Janel Marr teaches her students. “We talked about . . . what would the slope be? How fast might they be going? Because slope is really related to the rate of speed,” she said. “Math isn’t just theoretical. It’s having an experience of being part of the place.”
Ron Eglash and his wife, Audrey Bennett, both University of Michigan professors, developed modules that teach the history of a cultural practice, such as braiding hair into cornrows, quilting, beading and henna designs, then let students use software to create their own designs. Cornrow Curves and similar lessons have been adopted by districts in 25 states.
Math is cultural, said Mark Ellis, a professor of education at California State University, Fullerton. Students learn math "descended from the computational traditions of many places, including Mesopotamia (360-degree circles), ancient Greece (geometry and trigonometry), India (decimal notation, the concept of zero) and China (negative numbers)." Ethnomath might add "sub-Saharan fractal geometry and Mayan counting systems."
While there's little research on whether ethnomath students learn more math, Ellis argues that He said that "culturally responsive instruction takes other measures into account, besides academic outcomes," such as "students’ attitude about math, sense of belonging in math classes and engagement in math discourses."
I think the learning math part is important. I also hope students will understand that the power of math is abstraction. It doesn't matter whether the Greeks or the Egyptians thought up geometry first. Human beings figured it out over the ages and 21st-century human beings can learn it too.