General objectives

Developing Culturally Contextualised Mathematics Resource Materials: Capturing Practices of Women and Disadvantaged Communities

Project Proposal Submitted to

UNESCO Kathmandu Office

Developing Culturally Contextualised Mathematics Resource Materials: Capturing Practices of Women and Disadvantaged Communities

General Objectives

The major goal of this project is to develop culturally contextualised mathematics curriculum resource materials for the lower secondary schools of Nepal in order to foster a culturally pluralistic society. Specifically, the project will focus on the practices of women and disadvantaged ethnic communities –Tamang and Gopali – of Hilly regions of Nepal. Aimed at preparing resource materials for students, teachers and social elites, the project has the following general objectives:

To build a knowledge base of the ethno-mathematical knowledge, practices and languages of the culturally disadvantaged communities of Nepal.
To develop culturally contextualised curriculum resource materials to supplement the existing lower secondary mathematics curriculum.
To make local stakeholders aware of the cultural contextualisation of mathematics education.
To enable lower secondary school teachers to develop a culture-sensitive pedagogy based on principles of cultural inclusiveness, gender equity and student-centred teaching and assessment.
To improve student achievement and participation in mathematics at the lower secondary level.

Project Outcomes

Curriculum resources for use by lower secondary school teachers, support materials for students, support materials for social elites.
An exemplary model of local curriculum adaptation.
A record of indigenous mathematical knowledge, practices and languages of two disadvantaged ethnic communities.
Research reports.
Establishment of network of scholars specialising in ethno-knowledge research among the scholars of different institutions.
Increased research capacity of the School of Education, KU in the areas of Critical Mathematics Education and Ethno-Mathematical Education (EME).
Resources for establishing an ethno-mathematics course for the postgraduate programmes (M Ed/MPhil/PhD) at KU.

Context of the project

a) A protracted problem facing school education in Nepal is general underachievement and poor participation rates of pupils in mathematics (EDSC, 1997, 2003). The problem is especially bad for female students. A recent UNESCO-initiated study (Koirala & Acharya, 2005) found that Nepalese girls’ achievement in school mathematics is consistently below that of boys. A major contributing factor was found to be teachers’ gender stereotyping views of girls’ future social roles as home-makers rather than as prospective workers or professionals. Another factor contributing to the problem of underachievement and poor participation of both boys and girls is the narrowly conceived understanding of school mathematics as having the exclusive purpose of preparing an academic elite for entry into higher education in mathematics-related disciplines (Ernest, 1991; Luitel, 2003), thereby excluding the interests of the majority of pupils who, especially in Nepal, will leave school early and return to their local communities. This narrow academic view has resulted in (i) the design of curriculum materials and textbooks that present a formal, abstract and decontextualised view of mathematics and (ii) a didactic teaching approach to the delivery of content to passive-receptive pupils: a one size fits all approach.

b) This problem is best understood from a socio-cultural perspective that draws a direct connection between cognition and culture. Nepalese school pupils, particularly in rural and their own cultural communities, are experiencing schooling as one-way border crossing (Giroux, 1992) which requires them to leave their home culture at the school gate and move into the alien culture of the school. Many struggle to come to terms with the foreign language of instruction (English) and with the irrelevance of the decontextualised content of text-book directed mathematics lessons (Luitel & Taylor, in press). A typical student response is to resort to Fatima’s Rules (Aikenhead, 2000) - meaningless rote recall of rules and algorithms - thereby contributing significantly to the problem of underachievement in examinations. Worse still, the absence in the mathematics curriculum of reference to children’s home culture and the silencing in the classroom of their natal language is creating a clouded image in the minds of many that their post-school economic future lies outside their apparently undeveloped local communities, in distant towns and cities. Non-acknowledgement of reasoning styles of women and ethnic communities (Walkerdine, 1994) has severely affected pedagogic practices of teachers. The problem of one-way border crossing has been documented by education researchers in comparable Pacific Island nations (Aliawi, 2005; Waldrip & Taylor, 1999). From this perspective, we are seeing the failure of schooling, and school mathematics in particular, to contribute to local community development throughout Nepal and to the growth of an academic elite that is losing a vital nation building connection to its own cultural roots.

c) Thus, the challenge for mathematics education in Nepal is to take a more inclusive view of the purpose of school mathematics with the goal of providing a more relevant and socially responsible curriculum delivered via contextual resource materials that engage all students actively in meaningful and relevant learning experiences in accordance with the nation’s philosophy of Education For All (Ministry of Education and Sports, 2001). This challenge translates into one of creating a more culture-sensitive mathematics curriculum that builds a bridge between students’ home cultures and the academic culture of school mathematics. The critical feature of such a curriculum is that it promotes two-way border crossing (Giroux, 1992), inasmuch as it enables students to develop essential mathematical knowledge, skills and attitudes whilst, at the same time, experiencing a strong sense of the relevance of school mathematics to their local communities. A culture-sensitive mathematics curriculum would contribute significantly to fostering students’ cultural self-esteem and cultural identities (Sfard & Prusak, 2005). It is important to understand that the inclusivity that lies at the heart of a culture-sensitive mathematics curriculum materials aims to provide multiple educational outcomes, empowering students with meaningful mathematical knowledge and skills for a range of possible social roles, including home-making, employment in local communities and academic success leading to higher education. Such enacted curriculum needs to be built on a broader notion of the nature of mathematics in which mathematics is understood as arising from familiar cultural activities.

d) The key to developing a culture-sensitive and child friendly mathematics curriculum for Nepal involves exploring and documenting the mathematical practices and underlying knowledge systems of local communities, especially in rural cultural settings where largely intact indigenous cultures are continuing to use traditional methods of counting, ordering, patterning, categorising, measuring, building, weaving, farming, husbandry, etc. These diverse ethno-mathematical knowledge systems (D'Ambrosio, 1994) are embedded in people's daily cultural practices and have enabled them to successfully understand, explain and manage their natural environments in ecologically sensible and sensitive ways for eons. Although some research has been conducted into Nepalese ethno-scientific knowledge systems (UNESCO, 2005), no research has focussed on ethno-mathematics. Thus an immensely rich source of cultural knowledge lies waiting to be tapped by skilled Nepali mathematics educators armed with ethnographic research methods and the ability to harness this knowledge for pedagogical use in a culture-sensitive curriculum.

e) To design a culture-sensitive mathematics curriculum at the lower secondary level involves, first, developing resource materials for teachers, students and local stakeholders. Such materials are prepared linking ethno-mathematical knowledge directly to selected mathematical concepts within the existing curriculum. We envisage designing one-page vignettes of selected ethno-mathematical knowledge, accompanied by digital images that illustrate the context in which the knowledge is practised in local communities. Because of the intimate relationship between language, knowledge and culture it is essential that each vignette contains a narrative account written in the language of the local community from which it is obtained as well as translations into Nepalese and English. While preparing materials for students, much emphasis is given to link local cultural practices with mathematical concepts. In the case of teacher resource materials, the issue of culturally contextualised pedagogy will be on the fore through some illustrative examples. We envisage that resource materials that are prepared for a selected group of local stakeholders help them to develop ideas about culture-sensitive education. Capturing the experience of piloting those materials will help enhance their practicality.

f) The national significance of this project lies in its contribution to addressing strong public concerns about the urgent need to document and conserve the cultural heritage of Nepal which comprises over 90 distinct language groups, many of which are facing cultural extinction (Rapacha, 2006; Toba, Toba & Rai, 2006). There is a strong parallel with international research efforts to document and conserve Nepal's unique natural heritage in the face of changing ecological dynamics (UNESCO, 2005). This project will make a timely and significant contribution to documenting a hitherto unrecognised aspect of Nepal's cultural heritage. By incorporating ethno-mathematical knowledge and language systems within the primary school curriculum all Nepali children will be provided with an educational bridge for making their way across into a developing modern world economy. Importantly the bridge will designed to enable them to return back again at will, thereby minimising the risk of becoming stranded half-way across in a cultural no-man's land.

Programme of Activities

Major Project Activity	Activities in Detail	Timeline
Collection of ethno-mathematical knowledge, practices and languages from rural and remote communities.	· Review of existing lower secondary mathematics curriculum of Nepal in terms of objectives, scope and sequence. · Design of two-stage field research on local practices and knowledge traditions with reference to disadvantaged communities and women · One week input from international expert. · Selection and orientation of field researchers · Deployment of field researchers in two stages: Stage One: Field Activities on Tamang Inhabited Area, Stage Two: Gopali Inhabited Area · Methods of collecting data: PRA, RRA and AI together with video, audio, photographic and observational ethnography	June 2006- October 2006 (One and half month planning and two months field research)
Acquiring Data	Acquiring data in the form of written report (stories, biographies, vignettes, procedures, flowcharts, grids, reflections etc.), video and audio cassettes and artefacts Collection of field reports from field researchers	October 2006- November 2006
Submission of Initial Report of Activities to UNESCO: October 2006
Data processing/ preparing resource materials	Categorisation of data in terms of concepts, activities and subject matter. Orientation for the writer groups Distribution of writing tasks among the writer groups within KU Initial write-ups for resource materials (three languages: Local, Nepali and English) Write-ups for three types of resource materials: Student support materials, teacher resource materials and resource materials for social elite Feedback-cum-visioning workshop on the basis of initial writ-ups Two weeks input from international expert : Visit from international expert Collection of feedback from the expert groups	December 2006 – February 2007
Final write-ups of curriculum resource materials	Preparation of the final write-ups considering the feedback from the workshop Completion of write-ups Organising a validation seminar Printing of the resource materials for piloting	March 2007- April 2007
Submission of Second Report of Activities to UNESCO: April 2007
Production of curriculum resource materials	· Printing paper-based materials (and also CD-ROM) · Final proof reading · Printing materials for piloting	May 2007
Preparation for the piloting	Liaison with DOE at Centre and relevant DEOs at districts Selection of rural schools (maximum 3) for piloting Visioning workshops at the local level on implementing the curriculum resource materials	May 2007
Piloting of the resource materials	Implementation at the local level Mid-piloting seminar at the local schools Collection of experience of teachers, students and social elites	June 2007-August 2007
Evaluation of piloting	· Workshops · School visits · Classroom observation · Interview with teachers, parents and students	Ongoing during implementation period
Submission of Third Report of Activities to UNESCO: September 2007
Final write-ups of resource materials	Incorporation of experiences from piloting Workshop for the final write ups Final write-ups for printing	October 2007
Reporting	Final report	November 2007

References

Aikenhead, G. S. (2000). Renegotiating the culture of school science. In R. Millar & J. Leach & J. Osborne (Eds.), Improving science education: The contribution of research (pp. 245-264.).Open University Press, UK.

Aliawi, P. (2005). An autoethnographic inquiry into cultural hybridity in mathematics classrooms in PNG . Unpublished dissertation for Master of Science (Mathematics Education), Curtin University of Technology, Perth, Western Australia.

D’Ambrosio, U. (1994). Ethnomathematics, the nature of mathematics and mathematics education. In P. Ernest (Ed.) Mathematics, education and philosophy: An international perspective (pp. 230-242).London: The Falmer Press

EDSC (1997). National achievement level of grade three students. Kathmandu: Educational Development Service Centre.

EDSC (2003). National achievement level of grade five students. Kathmandu: Educational Development Service Centre.

Ernest, P. (1991). The philosophy of mathematics education. London: The Falmer Press.

Giroux, H. (1992). Border crossings: Cultural workers and politics of education. NY: Routledge.

Koirala, B. N., & Acharya, S. (2005). Girls in science and technology education: A study on access and performance of girls in Nepal. Kathmandu: UNESCO.

Luitel, B. C. (2003). Narrative explorations of Nepali mathematics curriculum landscapes: An epic journey. Unpublished dissertation for Master of Science (Mathematics Education), Curtin University of Technology, Perth, Western Australia. [Online] Available: http://pctaylor.com (under 'Mentoring').

Luitel, B. C., & Taylor, P. C. (in press). Envisioning transition towards transformative mathematics education: A Nepali educator’s autoethnographic perspective. In J. Earnest & D. Treagust (Eds.), Educational change and reconstruction in societies in transition: International perspectives. Rotterdam, Netherlands: Sense.

Ministry of Education and Sports. (2001). Education For All: National Plan of Action Nepal (2001-2015). Kathmandu: Ministry of Education, Nepal National Commission for UNESCO.

Rapacha, L-S. K. (2006). Saving linguo-species of Nepal. Kathmandu Post 14(43), 4.

Sfard, A., & Prusak, A. (2005). Telling identities: In search of an analytic tool for investigating learning as a culturally shaped activity. Educational Researcher, 34(4), 14-22.

Toba, S., Toba, I., & Rai, N.K.(2006). Diversity and endangerment of languages in Nepal. Kathmandu: UNESCO

UNESCO (2005). Indigenous knowledge and skills (Moulik gyan tatha shipharu( in Nepali)). Kathmandu: UNESCO

Walkerdine, Valerie (1994). Reasoning in a post-modern age. In P. Ernest (Ed.) Mathematics, education and philosophy: An international perspective(pp. 61-75).London: The Falmer

Waldrip, B., & Taylor, P. C. S. (1999). The permeability of worldviews to school science in a developing country. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 36(3), 289-303.