Non-convencional measure in Mexican textbooks. An analysis from the Ethnomathematics and the Onto-Semiotic approach

Abstract

In this study we characterize the treatment of Non-Conventional Units of Measure promoted in textbooks of Mathematics of Primary Education in Mexico. For this, theoretical and methodological notions of the Ethnomathematical Program and the Onto-semiotic Approach (OSA) were considered. As a result, it was evident that the use of units of length measurement (pace, cubit, hand span, finger, rod, fingers, thread or cord and strip of paper) is promoted in textbooks; capacity (plastic cup and jelly mold); weight (weight, and balance) and time (clapping and hourglass). It is concluded that the units of measure presented in this study are the unconventional measurement system offered by the curricular materials, so that students and teachers carry out measurement processes, equivalences and conversions, as well as solving extra-mathematical problems to contribute to the development of competences around the subject of the measure.