Very sad to say, Paulus Gerdes passed away this winter at a relatively young age, and the world has lost a great ethnomathematician.
Gerdes' books are all available at this Lulu.com site, many of them as inexpensive or free pdf downloads. Here is an example of one of them:
Explorations in ethnomathematics and ethnoscience in Mozambique
One of the ways to work against neocolonialism and ethnocentrism is to work reflexively -- that is, to view one's own culture as the subject of anthropological or other study, inspired by a sense of the importance of all cultures.
Reading chapters 1, 2, 3 or 5 from this book by Gerdes with your group, can you think of things (or activities) in your own cultural world (and/or that of your students) that might lend themselves to mathematical study, exploration or exemplification? Would you consider using these in your teaching? Why or why not? How, when, with what focus?
Gerdes' books are all available at this Lulu.com site, many of them as inexpensive or free pdf downloads. Here is an example of one of them:
Explorations in ethnomathematics and ethnoscience in Mozambique
One of the ways to work against neocolonialism and ethnocentrism is to work reflexively -- that is, to view one's own culture as the subject of anthropological or other study, inspired by a sense of the importance of all cultures.
Reading chapters 1, 2, 3 or 5 from this book by Gerdes with your group, can you think of things (or activities) in your own cultural world (and/or that of your students) that might lend themselves to mathematical study, exploration or exemplification? Would you consider using these in your teaching? Why or why not? How, when, with what focus?
Finger maths: http://www.wikihow.com/Play-the-Finger-Game
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