Ethnomathematics
From NSDLWiki
The principles of mathematics may be universal, but there are thousands of different ways to learn them. Ethnomathematics explore the interaction of mathematics and the cultures in which it arises. "Ethno" can refer to an indigenous society or any other group, such as a profession, religious affiliation, sport, or ethnicity. "Mathematics" can mean methods of counting, measuring, and calculating; symbolic systems; geometric and spatial applications; and ways of reasoning and inferring. Here is a mini-collection exploring web resources on the intersection of math and culture.
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Ethnomathematics Digital Library
http://www.ethnomath.org/index.asp Although this web site has been mostly inactive since its NSF grant was completed several years ago, it remains the best source on the topic. It is a project of the not-for-profit Pacific Resources for Education and Learning (PREL) in Honolulu, so it emphasizes the practice of math in Pacific Island cultures: for example, resources on “chants and chanting” discuss counting songs among Hawaiian and Chuukese (Micronesian) peoples, as well as a link on African counting songs. Resources are targeted at the elementary grades through college.
Culturally Situated Design Tools
http://www.rpi.edu/~eglash/csdt.html Ron Eglash, a mathematician at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, created 13 curriculum packages illustrating how mathematical concepts are expressed in different cultures. The Navajo Rug Weaver segment includes information on how the tribe’s cosmology and philosophy are expressed in its rugs, and how weavers use the vertical warps and horizontal wefts of their looms to plan their designs in terms of Cartesian coordinates. A high school and middle school resource.
International Study Group on Ethnomathematics
http://www.rpi.edu/~eglash/isgem.htm Eglash’s server also hosts the web page of a professional association of ethnomathematicians, The ISGE sponsors programs and business meetings at the annual conferences of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics and at the International Congress of Mathematics Education. They are an affiliate of the U.S. National Council of Teachers of Mathematics and publish the Journal of Mathematics and Culture. A college-level resource.
Kellermeier on Math and Culture
http://www.tacomacc.edu/home/jkellerm/index.htm John H. Kellermeier, a mathematics instructor at Tacoma Community College, maintains a set of links to ethnomatematics resources on his web page as well as two of his own essays: “Mathematics, Gender, and Culture,” and “How Mensuration Created Mathematics.” Links range from K-12 through college, essays at the college level.
Katherine Patterson’s lesson plan
http://www.ecsu.ctstateu.edu/depts/edu/projects/ethnomath.html A lesson plan on ethnomathematics with many links. High school.
The Algorithm Collection Project
http://www.csus.edu/indiv/o/oreyd/ACP.htm_files/Alg.html Daniel Orey, a mathematician at Cal State Sacramento, maintains an award-winning links page that connect you to the numbers one to ten in 5,000 different languages; a public television profile of The Algebra Project and its creator, Civil Rights movement leader Bob Moses; and an entertaining video clip where Ma and Pa Kettle explain why 25 divided by 5 equals 14. K-12 through college.
