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Mathematics Education Research Journal

, Volume 27, Issue 3, pp 263–281 | Cite as

Starting points and pathways in Aboriginal students’ learning of number: recognising different world views

  • Kaye Treacy
  • Sandra Frid
  • Lorraine Jacob
Original Article
First Online:

Abstract

This research was designed to investigate the conceptualisations and thinking strategies Indigenous Australian students use in counting tasks. Eighteen Aboriginal students, in years 1 to 11 at a remote community school, were interviewed using standard counting tasks and a ‘counting’ task that involved fetching ‘maku’ (witchetty grubs) to have enough to give a maku to each person in a picture. The tasks were developed with, and the interviews conducted by, an Aboriginal research assistant, to ensure appropriate cultural and language contexts. A main finding was that most of the students did not see the need to use counting to make equivalent sets, even though they were able to demonstrate standard counting skills. The findings highlight a need to further examine the world views, orientations and related mathematical concepts and processes that Indigenous students bring to school.

Keywords

Indigenous Culturally responsive Number Counting Subitising Part-whole 
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Notes

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank the participating school and teachers and to acknowledge the contribution of the research assistant Fiona Walker. This research was funded by the National Centre for Science, Information and Communication Technology and Mathematics in Rural and Regional Australia (SiMERR).

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Copyright information

© Mathematics Education Research Group of Australasia, Inc. 2014

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.SiMERRPerthAustralia
  2. 2.Murdoch UniversityPerthAustralia

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