Connecting Funds of Knowledge, Values, and Language to Develop Culturally Sustaining Mathematics Pedagogy
摘要
Both in New Zealand and internationally, diverse groups of people, including indigenous, migrant, and other minority communities, are under-represented in mathematics, and a subsequent outcome has been a lack of awareness of the rich mathematics within these cultural groups. Equity in schooling can only be achieved when educators explicitly connect to and build on the cultural, social, and linguistic contexts of non-dominant students and the “funds of knowledge” they acquire in their lives outside of school. In this chapter, we use an exemplary case study from one classroom to examine the teacher actions that can be used to connect to mathematical funds of knowledge and cultural values while integrating the learning of Indigenous language in mathematics classrooms. The findings highlight the need for teachers to develop respectful understandings and make connections to their students’ home and community activities. We show how connecting to funds of knowledge to contextualise mathematical tasks, and embedding cultural values throughout mathematics lessons and building on language resources can support the enactment of culturally sustaining mathematics pedagogy.