Cultural artefacts and mathematics: Connecting home and school

Cultural artefacts are anything constructed by people within a group that reflects the cultural identity of that group of people. A culturally contextual teaching and learning approach supports learners by engaging them in an investigation of a topic in a cultural setting. In this study, four mathematics teachers and thirty-two students from grade six to ten participated. Students were provided a rich environment to explore mathematical ideas embedded in cultural artifacts found in the out-of-school environment. The mathematical ideas embedded in these cultural artifacts enabled students to develop mathematical ideas beyond the four walls of the classroom. Both teachers and students reported that the cultural artefacts facilitate an opportunity to explore mathematical ideas in a cultural setting and helped them to connect mathematical ideas located in the out-of-school environment with formal mathematics