"It Made Me Feel Real Mi'kmaq!" Aboriginal Students Engaged in Culturally Based Mathematics Inquiry

• In Event: Venturing the Terrains of Mathematical Identities: Theoretical Perspectives on Participation and Inclusion in Mathematics Education

Abstract

This paper explores the concept of identity as it has emerged through the implementation of culturally-based mathematics inquiry units in schools serving Mi’kmaw children in Nova Scotia, Canada as a component of the Show Me Your Math (SMYM) program. SMYM invites Elders, teachers and students to explore culturally rooted practices in which there is potential for rich mathematics to emerge with a goal of decolonizing mathematics and exposing the rich mathematical reasoning that is inherent in Mi’kmaw ways of knowing, being and doing.

Theoretical Framework
SMYM is a program rooted in a decolonizing approach to education that seeks to transform the relationship Mi’kmaw students have with mathematics while addressing an existing achievement gap. While the larger study was not specifically about identity, the program aligns with Gutiérrez’s (2012) notion of equity that includes identity and power in addition to access and achievement and identity.

Methodology
The research employed an Indigenist methodology which is based on three interrelated principles: resistance, political integrity, and privileging Indigenous voices (Rigney, 1999) and is a paradigm for decolonizing research (Denzin, 2005). “Indigenous methodologies, by their nature, evoke collective responsibility” (Kovach, 2008, p. 178and "research back to power" (Smith, 2005, p. 90) with a "purposeful agenda for transforming the institution of research, the deep underlying structures and taken-for-granted ways of organizing, conducting, and disseminating research and knowledge" (p.88).

Data Sources
Focusing primarily at the middle school level, the inquiry projects have addressed the topics of maple syrup making, birch bark biting, making canoe paddles, and more. Students have presented projects at the annual math fair and many have shared their work on the website www.showmeyoumath.ca. Data has been collected through interviews with teachers and students as well as field notes and student work. The data in this paper was collected between 2014 and 2016.

Results
Gutiérrez (2012) has argued that paying attention to identity in math class enables students “to become better persons in their own eyes, not just in the eyes of others” (p.19) which requires a balance of windows and mirrors so the students “have opportunities to see themselves in the curriculum (mirror), as well as have a view onto a broader world (windows)” (p. 20). Findings show that student identity shifts in relation to the inquiry contexts, consistent with Andersson, Valero, and Meaney (2015). We see an improved relationship with mathematics emerging for students who engage in these projects as this work affirms both their identity as a learner of mathematics and as a member of a cultural community. The student quoted in the title felt a deep connection with her identity as a Mi’kmaw person through making a canoe paddle. Data collected in a public school shows that students engaged in a project exploring the decline of traditional languages of Mi’kmaq and Gaelic developed greater cross -cultural understandings and respect for each other, highlighting the power of windows and mirrors.

Significance
These projects support greater equity in mathematics education and help to improve students’ relationship with mathematics while also affirming their cultural identities.

Author

• Lisa Ann Lunney Borden, Saint Francis Xavier University