Abstract
Ethnomathematics school practices favor respect for, solidarity and cooperation with, the others. It is associated with the pursuit of peace. The main goal of ethnomathematics is building up a civilization free from truculence, arrogance, intolerance, discrimination, inequity, bigotry, and hatred of the others. These are basic questions that define philosophical and ideological postures, which are the roots of a holistic theory of knowledge, looking into the generation, the individual and social organization, and the institutionalization, transmission and diffusion of knowledge. This concept of ethnomathematics is primeval in recognizing the emergence of perceptions of space and time and the techniques of observing, comparing, classifying, ordering, measuring, quantifying and inferring that are different styles of abstract thinking in the school curricula. This is can be achieved by the application of the trivium curriculum, which is an innovative ethnomathematical approach that needs more investigations to address its pedagogical purposes.
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Notes
- 1.
Mathematization is a process in which members from different cultural groups come up with different mathematical tools that can help them to organize, analyze, comprehend, understand, and solve specific problems they face in the context of their real-life situation. These tools allow them to identify and describe a specific mathematical idea or practice in a general context by schematizing, formulating, and visualizing a problem in different ways, discovering relations, discovering regularities, and transferring a real world problem to a mathematical idea through mathematization (Rosa and Orey 2010).
- 2.
Synchronous communication literally means at the same time since it occurs in real time and can take place face-to-face. This kind of approach involves live communication either through sitting in a classroom, telephone conversations, instant messagings, online chattings, or teleconferencing via video/webconferences (Rosa and Orey 2016).
- 3.
Asynchronous communication literally means not at the same time since it is not immediately received or responded to by those involved. This kind of communication usually involves a set of weekly deadlines, but otherwise allows students to work at their own pace by using emails and message board forums which allow them to communicate on different schedules (Rosa and Orey 2016).
- 4.
Sociofacts are structures and organizations of a culture that influences social behavior and the development of scientific and mathematical knowledge, which include families, governments, educational systems, sports organizations, religious groups, and any other grouping designed to develop specific sociocultural activities. Sociofacts define the social organization of the members of distinct cultural groups because they regulate how individuals’ function in relation to the other members of a specific group (Rosa and Orey 2015b).
- 5.
Mentifacts refer to the shared ideas, values and beliefs such as religion, language, mathematics, sciences, viewpoints, law, and knowledge that are developed and diffused by the members of distinct cultural groups from generation to generation (Rosa and Orey 2015b). The main issue in the empowerment of individuals is the transition from the elaboration of mentifacts (theorizing about the events and phenomena that occur in everyday life) to the development of strategies and actions that are adequate to solve new problems and situations (D’Ambrosio 2006).
- 6.
Artifacts are the cultural objects, primarily material items and technologies created by members of distinct cultural groups. It is the technological subsystem composed of material objects as well as techniques of their use. Such objects are tools and other instruments that enable individuals to feed, clothe, house, defend, transport, and solve daily problems by using scientific and mathematical techniques and tools as well as informal and non-standardized mathematical knowledge found in other sociocultural contexts (Rosa and Orey 2015b).
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D’Ambrosio, U., Rosa, M. (2017). Ethnomathematics and Its Pedagogical Action in Mathematics Education. In: Rosa, M., Shirley, L., Gavarrete, M., Alangui, W. (eds) Ethnomathematics and its Diverse Approaches for Mathematics Education. ICME-13 Monographs. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-59220-6_12
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