99 Problems, and Algebra Is 1

• In Event: 60.073 - Women and Race in Hawai'i: Educational Enactments and New Possibilities

Abstract

“I’m just not good at math!” my daughter sobbed as I berated her for poor grades in her pre-algebra class. “Mom, I swear that when I tell Miss Lomilomi that I don’t understand something, she repeats her explanation in the exact same way.” For me what was most concerning in her assertion is that even at twelve, she had placed mathematics in the category of being something that was too difficult for her. Thinking back upon my own adolescence it was around this very point that I too had given up on math. I knew that even at twelve, doors would start to close for her. I was also concerned that I had somehow, in spite of my best efforts to the contrary she had internalized a belief, reinforced by early negative school experiences, in a genetic and perhaps a gendered “predisposition” for doing poorly in math.
Current literature indicates that the integration of culture and mathematics, “ethnomathematics” can increase student engagement in the classroom. Ethnomathematics however, is understood broadly and therefore has a wide variety of implementation. This paper contends that Hawaiians, like many other Indigenous cultures, have a rich mathematical understanding of the natural world, and that this knowledge must find its place in the classroom.
Gutstein, (2005) adds the following for the role of mathematics in the classroom, “To use mathematics to understand relations of power, resource inequities, and disparate opportunities between different social groups and to understand explicit discrimination based on race, class, gender, language and other differences. (p. 25, 26)
Reassertion of Hawaiian ways of conceptualizing time and space, as well as other inherently mathematical ideas in the broader context of decolonization and transformative action is Social Justice. Freire adds:
Teaching mathematics for social justice is the underlying belief that mathematics can and should be taught in a way that supports students in the using of mathematics to challenge the injustices of the status quo as they learn to rewrite their world. (Freire as cited in Stinson & Wager, 2012, p. 6)
Using a qualitative design, this research project examined the experiences of eight classroom teachers working in Hawaiian educational settings across the state who successfully integrate Hawaiian language and culture within their mathematics classrooms. The overarching questions that this research sought to answer through this study are:
1. How do teachers incorporate Hawaiian culture-based education into mathematics instruction?
2. How does using Hawaiian culture-based education in mathematics instruction impact student learning?
This research gleaned from the teachers’ suggestions for the creation of mathematics curricula that is culturally responsive and offers practical suggestions to math educators working in Hawaiian and other diverse communities. It will also explicate the complexities of ensuring mathematics success for all students within a (post)colonial public educational system.

Author

• Eomailani Kukahiko, University of Hawaii - Manoa