Transforming Ethnomathematical Ideas in Western Mathematics Curriculum Texts

When ethnomathematical ideas, that is, the mathematical ideas of different cultural groups, are included in mathematics curriculum texts they can become part of the learning experience in various ways. Once included in western classroom mathematics texts, the ethnomathematical ideas become transformed. The transformations involve changes in form or purpose. The study reported here investigated how indigenous cultural practices are transformed when relocated from their original contexts to the western classroom mathematics curriculum. This paper describes the development of a conceptual model that illustrates five different modes of transformation that may occur when indigenous cultural practices are incorporated in mathematics curriculum texts. To illustrate aspects of the model the paper includes an example concerning the Australian Aboriginal practice of throwing a returning boomerang. The model provides a way for students and teachers to critically reflect on the ways that ethnomathematical ideas become transformed when used in the classroom. An awareness of how cultural practices are transformed may also allow teachers constructing their own curriculum texts to choose the most appropriate modes of transformation