contextualized garden-based mathematics
abstract
research has investigated the use of locally valued activities to contextualize mathematics for
first nations 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛
; for example, beatty and blair (2015), lipka, sharp, adams, and sharp
(2007) , nicol, archibald, and baker (2013), and wagner and lunney borden (2010) . in this
multidisciplinary case study, i have explored the mathematical thinking that resulted from a
contextualized mathematics unit collaboratively implemented in a small ontario first nation
elementary school. although not considered decolonizing research, this project was
influenced by culturally responsive methods and pedagogy (battiste, 2002; doige, 2010;
lipka, 2007; lunney borden & wiseman, 2016; nicol, archibald & baker , 2010). the
education manager (em), a local resident and member of the first nation who represented
the community in matters of education, collaborated on this project. she shared information
gleaned from community surveys that expressed a desire for more outdoor and hands-on
activities for elementary school 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛
. along with the teacher, the em and i choose to use
a school garden to contextualize the mathematics. through collaboration with the teacher, a
variety of mathematics problems were created that connected to the garden. some of the
problems were inquiry based, which is more closely related to indigenous ways of knowing
than traditional school mathematics (battiste, 2005; doige, 2010; lipka, 2007; lunney
borden & wiseman, 2016; nicol, archibald & baker , 2010). lessons were implemented by
the researcher over three weeks in a grade 3/4/5 classroom. the mathematical thinking that
resulted from the problems was organized and analyzed. the effectiveness of inquiry and
contextualized mathematics was compared to more teacher-led methods. the findings of this
study suggest that contextualized inquiry-based mathematics, connected to locally valued
activities, elicits rich mathematical thinking.