How can maths promote cultural development in primary schools - Essay Example

How can maths promote cultural development in primary schools? Introduction Mathematics is a science dealing with quantitative entities, using the logic of shape, numbers and its arrangement. It is a subject that transcends sociological, moral, cultural, and economic barriers. In a multi ethnic learning environment such as in the United Kingdom, students of mathematics may come to academic institutions from a wide range of cultural background and exposure to learn, create, and orient others of their experiences. Mathematics education therefore is intrinsically linked with learners and their environment. This is why the UK government since the past decade has been striving to formulate policies to promote mathematics to bridge the gap of cultural divide within its society and for cultural development purposes. More specifically, cultural development can be defined as "pupils understanding (of) their own culture and other cultures in their town, region and in the country as a whole...It is about understanding and feeling comfortable in a variety of cultures and being able to operate in the emerging world culture of shared experiences ... Promoting pupils cultural development is intimately linked with schools attempts to value cultural diversity and prevent racism." (The Office for Standards in Education 2004). The government is of the view that mathematics has the potential of transcending the barriers that result from cultural diversity. In this context, to what extent does mathematics promote cultural development, shall be discussed in the following section. Discussion Cultural development has become a critical part of social development for the UK which is why policy makers nowadays are keen on developing it at the grass root level. In education, this refers to activities, curriculum and teaching practices to mediate cultural conflict at the primary school level such as Key Stage 1 and 2. The central role of education in cultural development, according to Ofsted (2004), is inherently linked with enabling the young people to recognize and explore cultural assumptions, values, and traditions, and embrace culture within contemporary values, attitudes and social perspectives. It emphasizes the "appreciation of inter-dependence of different cultures" and thereby helps in mitigating racism challenges. Mathematics, a core curriculum subject in primary school, is a logic based subject which manifests in social interactions, structures and relations. According to Lerman (2001), mathematics develops social consciousness; it promotes interpretation of concepts and knowledge, in a constructive manner. Unlike other subjects, mathematics induces empirical practices. According to Vygotsky (1988), instruction and development starts from the first day of a childs life, and continues throughout his/her life. Learning situations create practice. From this perspective, cultural tools and meta-cognitive tools jump start development processes. For example mathematics classrooms can be used as the place for introducing values attached to visual structuring (shapes), combining data, and calculating quantity. Zone of proximal development which refers to a framework or setting (e.g. schools) for developing cultural consciousness can be used to introduce the child to the socio-cultural milieu and help develop consciousness of cognition, interrelationship, and cultural barriers (Vygotsky 1988). Clearly, from Vygotskys framework one can understand that the role of teachers in cultural development is critical. They are responsible for the presentation of the curriculum and development of opportunities for learning through logically designed activities, for understanding mathematics relationship with culture. Understanding cultural development and mathematics provides the theoretical grounding required for teachers to defend their practice as well as the rationale for reflecting on the curriculum plan. By encouraging students to engage in cultural and historical development of mathematics, teachers are able to build students’ interests, and develop positive attitudes towards other cultures. For example teachers can use a variety of strategies in classrooms to create zone of proximal development, such as reminders of past events, reference to outside objects, and create opportunities of interaction among students/outsiders based on mathematics lesson activities (Atweh, Forgasz and Nebres 2001). They need to create opportunities for students to access to mathematics by all groups by referring to the origin, development and application of the subject by different cultures. Thus, to emphasize that mathematics is not a white European subject but rather has its origin from different places of the world, opens opportunities for learning from other cultures. For example a timeline of mathematics reveals that mathematics has its origin from Palaeolithic people in central Europe and France about 30000 BC; took root in more civilized cultures like the Egyptians around 4000 BC, then later the Indians, Greeks, Arabs, Chinese, Italians, and so on who have been responsible for introducing concepts such as geometric designs, calendars, straight lines, hieroglyphic numerals, Pythagorass Theorem, and algebra etc. ("Chronology for 30000BC to 500BC" 2007). Clearly, mathematics is a culturally rich subject, and a curriculum which helps promote it would promote cultural development. However, teachers are often constrained by cultural diversity among students. According to Zevenbergen, Dole and Wright (2004) in a diverse setting, teachers can take the equity or equality approach to carry out mathematics curriculum in classrooms. The equality approach is based on the view that disadvantaged students perform well if they are given a fair chance at succeeding, and provided with the ability to choose options they want. On the other hand, the equity approach assumes that students are disadvantaged due to different home environment from those practiced in schools, and often perform poorly as a result of non-alignment of knowledge, skills and dispositions. They may succeed if they are provided with different opportunities made available to them to redress them from the differences they experience. Both approaches apply principles of justice and difference. Teachers must understand and recognize first that in a multicultural classroom, aptitudes among students differ greatly because of the differences in learning experiences. One cannot expect students to know colours, shapes, numerals and logic which are alien to them. Instead, teachers should encourage opportunities for adjustments, and guidelines for learning of the disadvantaged while at the same time the curriculum needs to be tailored to the cultural environment of the classroom (Zevenbergen, Dole and Wright 2004). Thus, teaches beliefs in learners and learning outcomes make a great difference in the learners ability. In this regard, there is only a certain extent that teachers can impart cultural driven mathematics lessons because they are also constrained by standard based curriculum in the UK. In an attempt to revise this status, Sir Peter Williams in 2007 endeavoured to study current school programmes for effective pedagogy of mathematics teaching in primary schools and early years settings. His study has resulted in the report "Independent Review of Mathematics Teaching in Early Years Settings and Primary Schools" (2008) which offers recommendations for the same. Apart from teachers having adequate subject knowledge, and knowledge of their pupils background, Williams report recommends, primary schools to follow the programme "Every Child Counts" announced by the Prime Minister. This programme is based on the premise of primary school intervention. Here intervention refers to assessment criteria, integration of classroom, interrelation with literacy intervention, teachers qualification, parents and carers roles (Williams 2008). By implementing intervention, the National Numeracy Strategy’s (NNS) study indicates that the number of students who fail to achieve level 3 in mathematics by the time they are in primary group at age 11 has decreased when intervention had been introduced. The evidence suggests that standard based curriculum should be revised to consider the role of teachers, specialists, and school administrators in introducing dynamic teaching techniques in mathematics at Key Stage 1, and 2 in order to pass at the GCSE level (Williams 2008). Moreover, teachers should overcome the text based or standard based schema in order to promote learning opportunities. To demonstrate Paul Ernests (1989) model for teaching mathematics can be explicated here. Earnest posit that teachers mental models of teaching and learning mathematics can be categorized into the Platonist group or the problem solving group. Platonist teachers represent a unified body of knowledge, with the teacher as the disseminator of knowledge, and learning as the reception of knowledge. On the other hand, in a problem solving framework, the teacher is the facilitator while learning is a construct of activities which promote exploration and problem solving abilities. In this latter approach, social context has a great influence on the expectations of students, parents, superiors and peers etc. Teachers must have certain level of consciousness of beliefs, awareness of alternatives, learning assumptions, context-sensitivity and situational reconciliation abilities in order to promote cultural development in his/her learning groups yet achieve curriculum goals (Ernest 1989; Orton 2004). Conclusion From the above discussion one understands that mathematics is a multidimensional subject which is applied in every day life. Apart from helping individuals to socially develop, it also helps individuals transcend cultures. This is clear from the above discussion which outlines the governments national agenda of Every Child Counts. Teaching mathematics is therefore an all-encompassing strategy which requires teachers to have professional qualification, social consciousness for cultural development, and ability to discern students perspectives in learning mathematics. Since learning of mathematics can help transcend communication, language, and cultural barriers, it is recommended that it be taught at the primary school level. While the above is easier said than done, it is not impossible. As discussed, teachers can overcome barriers set by time restrictions, standards and school programmes, through alternative approaches to teaching, and developing perspectives to learning. Together with the new curriculum set by the government based on Williams Report (2008), it is possible for teachers of Key Stage 1 and Stage 2 to overcome their setbacks in promoting cultural development among multicultural mathematics students. References Atweh, B., Forgasz, H. and Nebres, B. (Eds) (2001) Socio-cultural Research on Mathematics Education: An International Perspective. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates: Mahwah, NJ. Ernest, P. (1989) "The Impact of Beliefs on the Teaching of Mathematics", in P. Ernest, Ed. Mathematics Teaching: The State of the Art, London, Flamer Press, pp. 249-254. Lerman, S. (2001) "A Cultural/Discursive Psychology for Mathematics Teaching and Learning" in Atweh, B., Forgasz, H. and Nebres, B. (Eds) (2001) Socio-cultural Research on Mathematics Education: An International Perspective. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates: Mahwah, NJ. pp. 3. Ofsted (2004) Promoting and Evaluating Pupils Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural Development. Office for Standards in Education. Orton, A. (2004) Learning Mathematics: Issues, Theory, and Classroom Practice. Continuum International Publishing Group. School of Mathematics and Statistics (Accessed 2008) "Chronology for 30000BC to 500BC" School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of St. Andrews, Scotland. [Online at]: http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Chronology/30000BC_500BC.html Vygotsky, L. S. (1988). Thought and language. Cambridge MA: MIT Press. Williams, P. (2008) Independent Review of Mathematics Teaching in Early Years Settings and Primary Schools. Department for Children, Schools and Families. Zevenbergen, R., Dole, S. and Wright, R. J. (2004) Teaching Mathematics in Primary Schools. Allen & Unwin: Crows Nest, N.S.W. pp. 47. Appendix Key Stage 1: Objective Outcome: Developing knowledge and understanding of mathematics based on cross cultural, exploratory and interactive activities. Activity Example 1: Developing Calendars Children can be grouped in twos, threes or four students. Each group is responsible for bringing in a cultural calendar that they are familiar with. E.g. Arabic, Far East Lunar Calendar and Solar Calendars. Sharing of the different terms used for counting the months, hours or years in these calendars is presented in a classroom discussion. Key Stage 2: Objective Outcome: Developing exploratory skills in acquiring knowledge about mathematics and its origin Activity Example 2: The Origin of Rangoli Each child is encouraged to develop a Rangoli, an Indian pattern made with colourful powder using different shapes, lines and imagery. The children are encouraged to develop their unique Rangoli as a class project, and explain how they have come about their project. For example what kinds of shapes did they use for repeating a pattern, what colours or what did they learn when they made the Rangoli. The teacher shall introduce the historical origin of Rangoli. Read More