The Ethnomathematics of Indigenous Burnt Bricks Production in the Benue Valley

Mathematics education that is culture-oriented emphasizes originality of thought and encourages the virtue of creativity. The approaches of ethnomathematics are embedded in the everyday practice of students and can stimulate classroom participation, develop mathematical intuition, enhance number sense and introduce mathematical concepts in an engaging way. This exploratory study focuses on the mathematics lessons derivable from the local process of producing burnt bricks within the Benue Valley. The study draws connections from the steps involved in burnt bricks making to the concepts taught in the Basic Mathematics Curriculum. The study summits that the onus is on the mathematics teacher to innovatively incorporate elements form their learners’ environment into instructional sequence in order to demystify the perceived abstractness of mathematics