Unit 4: Culturally Responsive Math Instruction
Learning Objectives
By the end of this unit, participants will be able to:
- Explain how understanding cultural roots of mathematics can enhance student engagement.
- Identify strategies for incorporating culturally diverse mathematical examples into instruction.
- Reflect on how their own perception of mathematics has evolved.
Introduction
Previously in this course, we have considered some of the cultural roots that lie within number systems around the world, including the decimal system we often use today. Additionally, we've viewed the appearance of magic squares across various cultures and found some patterns or layouts which reflect the values and beliefs of their origin. Throughout our explorations, an emphasis was put on comparing the various number systems and methods around the world to find similarities or distinctive qualities and consider how they reflect the values of the cultures which employed them.
The key takeaway here is that the history of mathematics is rich with an abundance of examples where the qualities of a mathematical system, method, or technique reflect the culture from which it originated and the experiences of the people who use it.
With this in mind, we will need to address the rising disconnect which many students today are facing when it comes to seeing the relevance of math to their daily lives.
The Intersection of Culture and Mathematics
Luckily, The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) also believes we need to address this disconnect, and in April 2024 they have provided invaluable information with the title "The Intersection of Culture and Mathematics."
They make their position very clear from the start:
"Mathematics is a human endeavor and a creative pursuit to understand and actively engage in our world. To create humanizing experiences and maximize learning in the mathematics classroom, educators must regularly and intentionally integrate culturally centered mathematics in each and every one of our PK–12 mathematics classrooms." (NCTM, 2024)
According to NCTM, traditional mathematics instruction seems to result in this disconnect students feel between the relevance of mathematics to their daily lives. If we want all students to see mathematics as an accessible, meaningful tool for learning, then we need to incorporate culturally centered math education into our lessons. They discuss how we need to move beyond surface-level activities for cultural explorations within mathematics, and authentically address students’, teachers', and community cultures and identities.
"There must be intentionality in bridging the intersection of culture and mathematics to learn about and value students’ and teachers’ cultures as assets to teaching and learning mathematics, become more culturally conscious, and work to develop systemic changes that have long-lasting impacts." (NCTM, 2024)
NCTM makes four declarations that serve as guidance for mathematics educators to mitigate this growing disconnect:
- Mathematics is not culture neutral.
- Effective mathematics instruction leverages cultural knowledge and lived experiences as assets.
- Effective mathematics teachers are culturally conscious.
- Effective schools develop systemic approaches that embrace culturally relevant mathematics instruction.
Keeping these declarations in mind, math teachers need to find creative ways to authentically incorporate culturally responsive instruction.
After performing some explorations of our own, looking to the history of mathematics could offer ways for math educators to address this disconnect by leveraging cultural knowledge and experiences as assets for learning and by highlighting for students that mathematics is not culture neutral.
Culture in the History of Mathematics
Our examinations show us that when viewing a topic in math, exploring the history surrounding it's emergence can allow one to make many real- world connections with regards to the mathematics performed.
Throughout this course, upon examining the origins of the Hindu-Arabic, Egyptian, and Babylonian number systems, and the prevalence of magic squares across various cultures, has your perception of math been altered or enhanced ? Why or why not?
When answering this question, begin to think about ways in which a similar experience could be shared with our own students as they learn about and practice new topics in mathematics.
Dr. Tom Mawhinney in his video "Culturally Relevant Math" (2016) explores the potential benefits of aiding students in making connections to the history of mathematics. In one example, he explains reading about a Latino student who said to his teacher, "My people don't do math." The teacher gave the student a brief history on the accomplishments of the Mayan culture and it was really eye-opening for the student, with him in awe saying "My ancestors did all that?!" highlighting a reason to expose students to the cultural history of mathematics.
Dr. Mawhinney, like NCTM, believes that there is a need for us to go beyond surface-level activities when it comes to implementing culturally responsive math instruction (such as activities dealing with dress, food, e.g. add the sombreros).
Near the start of the video, he states that it is very difficult to find articles pertaining to culturally relevant math (at the time the video was posted in October 2016). It should be noted that we are fortunate in the present day to have access to an abundance of resources pertaining to culturally relevant math, and a search on google or NCTM's website will yield numerous results.
Dr. Mawhinney highlights the benefits of allowing students to explore the cultural history of mathematics, enabling them to make meaningful connections which lead to a deeper understanding and identify more with the mathematics they perform. However, he also discusses the importance of making these connections at a local level, exploring what is going on in communities and making math relevant to student's everyday lives. So it is crucial for math educators to tailor instructional activities to the unique backgrounds and experiences of their individual students. Since math is not culture neutral, each culture will have unique origins and historical contexts which can be explored, and this could yield great benefits for students.
Create a Mini-Lesson or Activity
Your Challenge: Design a short math lesson or activity that incorporates a mathematical idea with a cultural context. Instructions:
- Identify a math topic.
- Choose a cultural connection.
- Briefly describe the learning goals, materials, and student task.
- Include 1–2 guiding questions for student reflection.
Your mini-lesson or activity can explore one of the topics reviewed in this course, or introduce a new topic of your choice! Remember that we are fortunate to have an abundance of resources available to us.
For some ideas, consider watching Shelly Jones' TedTalk, "Culturally Relevant Pedagogy in Mathematics: A Critical Need"
Jones, like NCTM and Dr. Mawhinney, state the need for more authentic culturally relevant math instruction. She provides many great examples of activities which aid students in making cultural connections with mathematics.
Her beginning experiment, involving the scenario of overcoming a language barrier at a fruit stand in Ecuador to represent the number 6, can aid in highlighting how different people may have different representations for the same number, and this could lead nicely into explorations of different number systems around the world.
Another great example was the class working together to create class quilts which can both represent qualities and characteristics of individuals in the class and offer opportunities for length measurements or area calculations. With this activity, one could even include the element of a magic square within the quilt and the placements of the numbers within could reflect values of the class, providing a segway for students to begin exploring the history of magic squares across different cultures and realize that what they just created was also made by people hundreds or even thousands of years ago!
Discussion
Once your have created your lesson or activity, please provide a description on the discussion board. In addition to the description, please answer the following questions in your discussion board post:
Why do you think exploring the cultural roots of mathematics can help students make meaningful connections? How has your own perception of mathematics evolved throughout this course?
Feel free to see what others have come up with and share ideas!
Discussion Board: https://padlet.com/dalfeo/mini-lesson-activity-lh4fd197ckolb6x7
Thank you!
This is the end of the mini-course. Thank you for taking the time to explore some of these cultural connections in the history of mathematics and seeing ways in which they can aid in developing culturally responsive math instruction, and remember that this course only presents a few of the many possible cultural connections which can be explored within the history of mathematics!