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12                12 x              120               24             144        Students in some countries do               multiplication like this.

Students attending schools in the     Burlington School District come    from over thirty different     countries worldwide. Each student    brings a unique way of thinking and     reasoning mathematically as well as a variety of different computational techniques and strategies. We can help students adjust to "American math"  better if we understand the math they have been experiencing in their lives before coming to the US. Some children as old as 12 may have never studied math while others may have studied significantly more the students 9in US schools.

What is Ethnomathematics?

Ethno-mathematics is the branch of math that explores the relationship between mathematics and culture. This may include the way societies and cultures use mathematical symbols, procedures, methods of calculation and computation as well as the way mathematics is defined. It can also include the way math is taught in school in terms of whether students are tracked for math at an early age, are required to take rigorous tests, are expected to understand what they learn as well as the role of parental influences on student learning and schooling in general.

The study of mathematics is also intricately related to the indigenous language/s of a particular country or culture. The different conceptual constructs, vocabulary and sentence structures all influence the way we calculate, compute and reason mathematically.

Some examples of ethnomathematics

• Some groups of people in the Amazon basin, for example, have only three counting words, 'one', 'two', and 'many'

• In Bosnia, students still use the equal addition method to do subtraction algorithms.

• The  math program Singapore Math is based on the national math program in Singapore which topped international math scores in the TIMMS report several years ago. The program is extremely rigorous and tracks students based on annual exams from a very young age.

Here are some some sources for learning more about this fascinating aspect of mathematics.

Ethnomathematics - A rich cultural diversity - Nova: Science in the News form Australia.

The International Study Group On Ethnomathematics - Where it all began.

The First International Congress of Mathematics

The Ethnomathematics Digital Library- Primary resources.

Anthro-net; An Introduction to Ethnomathematics - More resources.

The Algorithm Collection Project - How are algorithms performed in different countries?

Some different number systems

Ethnomathematics - A point of view form the University of Idaho.

Ethnomathematics: An Instructional Unit.

For more information contact Dr. Tim Whiteford