An in-service programme for introducing an ethno-mathematical approach to mathematics teachers

Abstract

The article profiles an in-service programme used to introduce a group of 22 high school mathematics teachers to an ethno-mathematical approach. The programme was built on an ongoing district-wide teacher development initiative organized and facilitated by the mathematics district official on a monthly basis. The programme took place over six months and consisted of three workshops, monthly cluster meetings and classroom visits. All the activities were carried out by various mathematics education practitioners. The results showed the varying degrees of impact of the in-service programme on the teachers.

Keywords:

• in-service teacher programme
• ethno-mathematics and ethno-mathematical approach

Notes on contributor

David Mogari is a professor of mathematics education in the Institute for Science and Technology Education at the University of South Africa. His research interests are social and cultural aspects of mathematics, teacher education and, lately, problem solving in mathematics.

Acknowledgements

The National Research Foundation under Grant number 2047427 supported the research component of the study and the ISCOR Foundation supported the Teacher Development Programme. Opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations are those of the author and not those of the National Research Foundation nor the ISCOR Foundation.

Notes

1. The secondary teacher's diploma was offered in the teacher training colleges and an honours degree is ‘a postgraduate specialisation qualification, characterised by the fact that it prepares students for research based postgraduate study. This qualification typically follows a Bachelor's Degree, and serves to consolidate and deepen the student's expertise in a particular discipline, and to develop research capacity in the methodology and techniques of that discipline. This qualification demands a high level of theoretical engagement and intellectual independence’ (Higher Education Qualification Framework, 2007: 25).

2. String game is a cultural game played with a loop of a string. The intention is to progressively generate a multiple of gates (i.e. quadrilaterals) from the basic gate made.

3. Related instead of embedded because mathematics is not really embedded in the string game. It is rather imposed on the activity.

4. Morabaraba another cultural game played by aligning identical pebbles or small objects at the vertices of three concentric rectangles.