Qualities of Respectful Positioning and Their Connections to Quality Mathematics

Abstract

Drawing on stories of students making sense of mathematics in relationship to their places in their aboriginal communities on Canada's east coast, we identify qualities of respectful positioning and their connections to quality mathematics. Attention to positioning in our ethnomathematical research conversations prompted and facilitated a shift from a traditional colonialist storyline to one that promoted more respectful research relationships. With this shift, children were invited into authentic conversations with elders and others to examine mathematics in traditional and modern community practices. Using examples of ethnomathematical projects by Mi'kmaw and Maliseet students (from the annual Show me your math event), we characterize quality learning in terms of local values, which we synthesize under the rubric of wholeness, identifying three aspects of wholeness, in particular: cultural synthesis, personal holism, and intergenerational interaction. We ask to what extent student samples demonstrated wholeness and consider ways in which fuller wholeness might be achieved. © Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2011.