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Ethnomathematics: Why, and what else?

Ethnomathematik: Warum, und was weiter?

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Abstract

Ethnomathematics—we all have some notions of what it is, but should it be influencing school mathematics? This paper considers a justification for the influence from a constructivist perspective, and considers the implications of enactivism and other ways of thinking on ethnomathematics. My conclusion is that the influence should be broader—that different cultural groups may have different ways of knowing, that we may be asking the wrong questions, and that we might need to consider ‘ethno-education’

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Wir alle haben eine Vorstellung davon, was Ethnomathematik ist, aber sollte sie die Schulmathematik beeinflussen? In diesem Beitrag wird dies aus einer konstruktivistischen Perspektive heraus bejaht Außerdem werden Auswirkungen des Enaktivismus und anderer Denkweisen auf die Ethnomathemtik betrachtet. Meine Schlussfolgerung ist die, dass der Einfluss umfassender sein sollte—dass unterschiedliche kulturelle Gruppen unterschiedliche Denkweisen haben können, dass wir die falschen Fragen stellen durfen, und dass wir eine “Ethno-Erziehung” in Betracht ziehen sollten

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Begg, A. Ethnomathematics: Why, and what else?. ZDM 33, 71–74 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02655697

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