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Promoting Cultural Inclusivity and Cultural Relevance in the Math Classroom!
India White • January 27, 2024
Promoting Cultural Inclusivity and Cultural Relevance in the Math Classroom!
Promoting Cultural Inclusivity in the Math Classroom: Embracing Diversity for Enhanced Learning
Introduction:
In today's diverse and multicultural society, it is crucial for teachers to understand and embrace the concepts of cultural inclusivity and culture assimilation. While both approaches aim to create a harmonious learning environment, they differ significantly in their underlying principles and outcomes. In this article, we will aim to provide teachers with a clear understanding of the difference between cultural inclusivity and culture assimilation, emphasizing the importance of practicing cultural inclusivity in the math classroom. Additionally, five practical tips will be provided to help teachers foster a culturally inclusive learning environment. It is imperative that as teachers strive to create an environment that embraces culture, efforts are made so that all learners feel like they are included in the environment.
Cultural Inclusivity vs. Culture Assimilation
Cultural inclusivity
refers to the recognition, acceptance, and celebration of diverse cultures within a learning environment. It involves valuing and respecting the unique backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives of students from various cultural backgrounds. In the classroom, teachers become culturally inclusive whenever they are intentionally including the culture of learners from diverse backgrounds in efforts to increase cultural relevance along with intentions to celebrate the culture and diversity of others. They can do this through various efforts of bell work problems, project based activities and more. A different concept around culture is culture assimilation, which refers to the process of adopting the dominant culture's norms, values, and practices, often at the expense of one's own cultural identity. While culture assimilation may promote unity and conformity, it can also lead to the marginalization and exclusion of students who do not conform to the dominant culture. This is a divisive method of uniformity that causes more emotional and mental damage to students.
Importance of Cultural Inclusivity in the Math Classroom
Practicing cultural inclusivity in the math classroom
is essential for several reasons. Firstly, it promotes a sense of belonging and acceptance among students, creating a safe and supportive learning environment. When students feel valued for their cultural backgrounds, they are more likely to actively engage in learning and develop a positive attitude towards mathematics. Further, having cultural inclusivity embedded into instructional practices strengthens the teacher-student bond needed for building trust within the learning environment. Secondly, cultural inclusivity enhances students' critical thinking and problem-solving skills by exposing them to diverse perspectives and approaches to mathematical concepts. This exposure fosters creativity and innovation, as students learn to appreciate different ways of thinking and problem-solving. In addition, it helps all students to appreciate various walks of life, and different perspectives given from various cultural groups represented. Lastly, cultural inclusivity prepares students for the globalized world by equipping them with the necessary skills to collaborate and communicate effectively with individuals from diverse cultural backgrounds.
Five Tips for Practicing Cultural Inclusivity in the Math Classroom
1. Incorporate Culturally Relevant Examples
When teachers are practicing cultural inclusivity in the math classroom, they should strive to integrate real-life math problems and examples that reflect the cultural backgrounds and experiences of your students. This allows students to see the relevance of mathematics
in their own lives and promotes engagement and interest in the subject. To support teachers in this effort, teachers can get suggestions from their students by asking questions in a survey, i.e. “Who is your favorite music artist? Who is your favorite athlete? What is your favorite place to go to relax or for vacation?” As students share their opinions, take note of it and use their favorite celebrities and athletes as problems in bell work. This will stimulate their interest in the content, and will remove barriers of rejection and trust issue they may have while learning.
2. Use Multicultural Resources
Utilizing textbooks, online resources, and teaching materials that represent diverse cultures and perspectives can help promote cultural inclusivity for students. These resources helps students see themselves and their cultures represented in the learning materials, and provides understanding of varying perspectives while fostering a sense of inclusivity and validation for all students. Further using multicultural resources will expand the awareness of great mathematicians of diverse backgrounds across the globe. In their article, “Math at the Core: Culturally Responsive Teaching and Math” PBS learning experts highlighted that, “The ways in which we typically teach math in K–12 classrooms are fundamentally Eurocentric, based off of Greek texts. This discounts the various ways in which math has historically been developed, intuited, and represented in other cultural communities: ratios and patterns in Japanese origami, for example; symmetry in Maori decorations; measurement in quilting; or arithmetic, number ordering, and multiplication using the abacus or Incan quipus.”
They elaborate on how cultural archetypes can play a role in learning and stress the importance of helping students to think critically.
3. Encourage Collaboration and Peer Learning
Through collaboration and peer learning, teachers have the opportunity to bring inclusivity to the learning experience of students by creating opportunities for students to work in diverse groups, encouraging them to learn from and with their peers from different cultural backgrounds. This promotes mutual understanding, empathy, and appreciation for diverse perspectives that may be brought up during mathematical discourse. Peer learning has been proven to be a strategy to enhance the learning experience such that Harvard University has considered ways to utilize peer learning in the digital space. Studies show that students learn from peer-to-peer collaboration, and sometimes this is beneficial when students are partnered with other learners from diverse backgrounds to explain content in the textbook that they have personal experience.
4. Celebrate Cultural Festivals and Events
When celebrating cultural events, teachers should strive to acknowledge and celebrate important cultural festivals and events throughout the school year. This can be done through classroom decorations, class projects, presentations, or discussions, allowing students to share their cultural traditions and learn from one another. Further, there could be cross-sectional opportunities to partake in various projects that can stem beyond the classroom. For instance, math teachers could collaborate with English and History teachers on a grade level or school wide Pi Day project. This is a great way to have students join together as a little community in their school halls, and to celebrate the diversity that exists within the school.
5. Provide Language Support
Recognize that students from diverse cultural backgrounds may have different language needs. When cultivating a culture of diversity and conclusion, teachers can offer language support resources, such as bilingual materials or translation assistance, to ensure all students can fully participate and understand mathematical concepts.
Further, teachers can assure that they are communicating frequently with parents and guardians, making sure that all members in their support group are on the same page regarding their child’s academic progress.
Conclusion
Cultural inclusivity in the math classroom is a powerful tool for promoting student engagement, critical thinking, and preparing students for a diverse world. By embracing cultural inclusivity and implementing the five tips provided, teachers can create a supportive and enriching learning environment where all students feel valued, respected, and empowered to succeed in mathematics.
References
1. Banks, J. A. (2015). Cultural diversity and education: Foundations, curriculum, and teaching. Routledge.
2. Gay, G. (2010). Culturally responsive teaching: Theory, research, and practice. Teachers College Press.
3. Nieto, S. (2010). Language, culture, and teaching: Critical perspectives for a new century. Routledge.
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