Will Culturally Relevant Content in Mathematics Improve Engagement of Indigenous Students in the Regional and Urban Context?

Abstract

When I now reflect critically on the outcomes of my lesson, the explanation given by my mentor teacher might have been a legitimate reason for the disengagement of the two boys. However, I could not help but feel that they were not enthusiastic about the activity due to the nature of the content and how it was presented in the activity. Their attitude and body language spoke more of two students who could not see any relevance between their everyday lives and the activity, leading to a situation where they were shut off from the task altogether. This moment led me to consider my research question which involves the difficulty of making mathematical content relevant to the lives of Indigenous students living in a regional or urban area where cultural, family and personal beliefs may not be as readily identifiable as that within an Indigenous community located in a remote context.