math is not a four-letter word. but to those with rampant math phobia, it certainly feels like it. dr. ruth beatty, associate professor in the faculty of education at 阿根廷vs墨西哥竞猜 ’s orillia campus often sees 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 who actively dislike or even fear math. to her the problem isn’t with math itself, it’s with how the subject traditionally has been taught.

she started her research career looking at how children understand math and how educators can best teach the subject. she found that by looking beyond numbers and symbols and by taking a more holistic approach to what it means to think “mathematically” teachers could make math more accessible and fun.

nine years ago, while teaching in the master's program at lakehead’s thunder bay campus, beatty made a fascinating connection that has guided her work since then.

“some of my 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 were first nations educators or had been teaching in first nation schools and we were talking about the disconnect between indigenous culture and mathematics education in ontario curriculum,” said beatty. “i started visiting communities to learn more.”

while working with the elders she realized that math is naturally embedded in indigenous cultural practices like beadwork or birch-bark basket-, snowshoe- and moccasin-making.

“take a beaded bracelet, for example,” says beatty. “there's so much math in it. there is patterning and algebraic reasoning, there’s geometric transformations, proportional and spatial reasoning. there's number sense and numeration.”

with that cultural connection in mind, beatty began a study in 2012 with the algonquins of pikwakanagan first nation and teachers from the renfrew county district school board at a school with 20 per cent indigenous 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 and 80 per cent non-indigenous 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 . the project partnered community members, artists, elders, and knowledge keepers with indigenous and non-indigenous educators to co-plan math instruction for grade 3 and 6 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 based on algonquin loom beading. cultural and language teachings were also integrated into the math unit.

the results were overwhelmingly positive. indigenous 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 got to share their heritage and gain a sense of pride in their own knowledge systems that were valued on the same level as western curriculum. non-indigenous 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 gained an appreciation of indigenous culture. most importantly, both groups learned exciting new math skills in a fun and engaging environment.

perhaps the best endorsement of the math classes came from the 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 themselves. at the end of a session, with 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 working in their designs, making calculations to determine how many beads they would need, the teacher told them to wrap it up, math class was over. they looked up in surprise. wait? what? math? they had spent three hours absorbed in their learning with no idea they were, in fact, doing math.

beatty and her team have collaborated with nine more communities around the province including the chippewas of rama first nation and simcoe county district school board. her work shows that math doesn’t belong to eurocentric culture or scholars. math is all around us and if taught in inventive, positive, and culturally responsive ways, no one needs to be afraid of it.

faculty of education professor dr. ruth beatty and her school board partners received funding from the social sciences and humanities research council of canada, cancode, and the council of ontario directors of education to carry out this important research.

how do you come back to calm? this question is the powerful message driving a new community-based project by 阿根廷vs墨西哥竞猜 professors drs. sonia mastrangelo and meridith lovell-johnston.

based in the faculty of education at the university’s orillia campus, mastrangelo and lovell-johnston use the concept of self-regulation to engage young children in learning and literacy. over the next three years, they’re working in partnership with six first nations community schools in northern ontario, focusing specifically on self-regulation in kids kindergarten-age to grade three.

“as the foundation of healthy social development, self-regulation can be learned and is vital to helping us become resilient and cope with the stressors of daily life,” says mastrangelo, a specialist in child exceptionality and self-regulation. “when our coping mechanisms are derailed, so is our ability to learn new skills, like reading and writing.”

“we always stress that self-regulation in the classroom is as important for teachers as it is for 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 ,” adds lovell-johnston, whose expertise spans literacy, language learning and teaching methods. “offering local teacher workshops and professional development is a key way we’ll support the development of self-regulation and practices that foster literacy and learning.”

through classroom observation, interviews, focus groups, sharing circles and storytelling, the project will explore how to identify and reduce sources of stress and provide different strategies that help kids return to calm. anything from dimming lights, using lavender scents and offering safe spaces to regroup can all create stable, homeostatic classrooms says mastrangelo, adding that what works for one child may not necessarily be effective for another.

while the current work is based in northern ontario, mastrangelo notes that the principles of self-regulation apply to any classroom, and any child. “it’s trial and error to find what works for each student, but they eventually learn to communicate and regulate their feelings independently, so that they can get back on track for learning.”

the children will also lend a hand in making videos, pictures and stories in english and their community language, oji-cree, that capture their experiences including “what makes them feel happy and safe and want to learn,” says lovell-johnston. at the end of the project, each child will have helped create their own e-book; a documentary-style film will also be produced and shared with the public and other education scholars.

mastrangelo and lovell-johnston’s project launched in january of 2020 with the first of several planned spaghetti-dinner and information nights for parents, underscoring their community-led and partnership approach to setting research objectives and sharing knowledge.

“we work together to address challenges and offer supports in the places the communities themselves have told us they need it most,” says mastrangelo. “this partnership work is essential to empower northern educators and communities to support their children with culturally relevant practices for lifelong learning, resiliency and achievement.”

faculty of education professors drs. mastrangelo and lovell-johnston work in partnership with the kwayaciiwin education resource centre in northwestern ontario community schools. their three-year partnership development grant is funded by the social sciences and humanities research council.