ALGEBRA
TAUGHT WITH AND WITHOUT AN ETHNOMATHEMATICAL PEDAGOGY
The
Global Perspective: Teaching,
Learning and Student Equity
Dr.
Eduardo Jesús Arismendi-Pardi
Professor
of Mathematics
Orange
Coast College
A
presentation to the Center for the Study of Diversity in Teaching and Learning
in Higher Education
Miami,
Florida April, 2001
Orange
Coast College (OCC) is a public 2-year institution
located
in Costa Mesa, California.The college
is one of three colleges in the Coast Community College District and was
founded in 1947.
Nature
of the Problem
The
problem is that according to Greene (2000), senior writer for the Chronicle
of Higher Education, "empirical research still needs to be done to find
out whether ethnomathematics draws students in" (p. A17).Utah
State University elementary education professor Barta (personal communication,
October 21, 2000) agrees that statistical evidence would certainly make
a positive argument in favor of ethnomathematics as being instrumental
in student success.
Purpose
of the Study
The
purpose of this study was to determine if students
taking Intermediate Algebra who are taught with an ethnomathematical pedagogy
at OCC perform better than those students taking Intermediate Algebra who
are taught without an ethnomathematical pedagogy.
Research
Question
There
was one research question for this study:"Do
students who are taught with an ethnomathematical pedagogy at OCC perform
significantly better in Intermediate Algebra than those students who are
taught without an ethnomathematical pedagogy?"
Students
who are taught with an ethnomathematical pedagogy at OCC perform significantly
better in Intermediate Algebra than those students who are taught without
an ethnomathematical pedagogy.The
independent variable is the use of an ethnomathematical pedagogy to teach
Intermediate Algebra and the dependent variable is the final grade in Intermediate
Algebra.
A
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE LITERATURE
The
investigation of the literature provided a theoretical foundation for this
research.According to Fasheh (1997a),
"a common misconception in the teaching of math has been, and still is,
the belief that math can be taught effectively and meaningfully without
relating it to culture or to the individual student" (p. 281).In
relation to teaching mathematics from a non-traditional approach, Schultes
and Shannon (1997, p. 231) found that many students have gained greater
appreciation for mathematics after having learned the subject matter from
a cultural perspective.This has
contributed to students feeling more comfortable and confident about discussing
mathematical concepts, such as infinity, with their peers (Schultes &
Shannon, p. 231).
In
relation to ethnomathematics and multicultural education, teaching is much
more than the transferring of knowledge--teaching is a cultural activity
that should induce the creation of knowledge (Freire, 1998, p. 49).
METHODOLOGY
AND PROCEDURES
A
review of the literature on ethnomathematics and multicultural education
was conducted.A quasi-experimental
research methodology was used for this study.The
population for this experimental research consisted of all students who
have taken Intermediate Algebra at OCC.The
sample for this experimental research consisted of students enrolled in
two sections of Intermediate Algebra during the Fall 1996 and Fall 2000
semesters.
The
sample was divided into two groups.Those
students who completed Intermediate Algebra at OCC who were taught with
an ethnomathematical pedagogy were placed in group A; those students who
completed Intermediate Algebra who were taught without an ethnomathematical
pedagogy were placed in group B.
Data
Analysis
Null
Hypothesis
There
is no statistical significant difference between the mean score in Intermediate
Algebra of students who were taught with an ethnomathematical pedagogy
at OCC and the mean score in Intermediate Algebra of students who were
taught without an ethnomathematical pedagogy.
Alternative
Hypothesis
Students
who completed Intermediate Algebra who were taught with an ethnomathematical
pedagogy at OCC will have a higher mean score in Intermediate Algebra than
those students who completed the course and were taught without an ethnomathematical
pedagogy.
Level
of Significance
The
level of significance used for this study was 0.05 with a one-tail rejection
region.
Statistical
Test
Assumptions
It
was assumed that students who completed theIntermediate
Algebra course during the Fall 1996 Semester were comparable in mathematical
ability and preparation to the students who completed the Intermediate
Algebra course during the
Fall
2000 semester at OCC.It was also
assumed that the selection of the sample for this study was representative
of the population of students of Intermediate Algebra at OCC.
Limitations
The
results obtained in the study were specific to the Intermediate Algebra
courses taught by the researcher at OCC during the Fall 1996 and Fall 2000
semesters.These results were limited
to the field of mathematics, the Department of Mathematics, and the college.This
limitation may be a threat to the external validity of the study in that
the results of the findings relate to community college students in general
and to students at OCC in particular.
RESULTS
The
following Table records the statistics and t-test calculations that were
obtained to compare the means of the grade point averages of two group
of students who had completed Intermediate Algebra at OCC:(a)
those students who were taught with an ethnomathematical pedagogy at OCC,
and (b) those students who were taught without an ethnomathematical pedagogy
at OCC.
t-Test
Comparison of Mean Differences of Independent Samples
=================================================================GroupMeanStandard#
of Students
Deviation
_________________________________________________________________
A:Ethnomathematics2.0001.41021
B:No
Ethnomathematics1.2670.96115
_________________________________________________________________
Level
of Significance = 0.05
Degrees
of Freedom = 34
Critical
t-value = 1.645
Calculated
t-value = 1.850
Since
the calculated t-value exceeds the critical t-value at the 0.05 level of
significance, the null hypothesis was rejected and the alternative hypothesis
was accepted.There was a
statistically
significant difference between the mean scores in Intermediate Algebra
for students who were taught with an ethnomathematical pedagogy at OCC
and those students who were taught without an ethnomathematical pedagogy.
CONCLUSION
The
null hypothesis was rejected since the calculated t-value of 1.850 exceeded
the critical t-value of 1.645 at the 0.05 alpha level of significance.Thus,
it was concluded that there was a statistical significant difference between
mean scores in Intermediate Algebra for students who were taught with an
ethnomathematical pedagogy at OCC and those students who were taught without
an ethnomathematical pedagogy.
Fasheh,
M. (1997a). Mathematics, culture, and authority. In A. B. Powell, &
M. Frankenstein (Eds.). Ethnomathematics: Challenging Eurocentrism in
mathematics education (pp. 273-290). New York: State University of
New York Press.
Fasheh,
M. (1997b). Is math in the classroom neutral--or dead? A view from Palestine.
For the Learning of Mathematics, 17(2), 24-27.
Freire,
P. (1998). Pedagogy of freedom: Ethics, democracy, and civic courage.
New York: Rowman and Littlefield.
Greene,
E. (2000, October 6). Good-bye Pythagoras? Ethnomathematics' embraces non-European
methods of math; critics fear a decline in rigor. The Chronicle of Higher
Education, 47(6), A16-A18.
Henderson,
D. W. (1996). I learn mathematics from my students--multiculturalism in
action. For the Learning of Mathematics, 16(2), 46-52.
Schultes,
C. N., & Shannon, K. M. (1997, September). Mathematics and culture:
A unique liberal arts experience. PRIMUS: Problems, Resources, and Issues
in Mathematics Undergraduate Studies, 7(3), 222-234.