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Mathematics Instruction

• "The Multicultural Math Classroom: Bringing in the World" by Claudia Zaslavsky. Book Review
  Argues for the place of mathematical literacy in a just society, and examines the value of the reform movement in mathematics education toward multiculturalism and whole language from the experience of a fifth-grade teacher of mathematics. Critically examines classroom activities suggested by Zaslavsky's book in terms of appropriateness for achieving the goals of a multicultural curriculum.
• A Multicultural Matrix for Mathematics Education
  Offers a matrix to assist mathematics-curriculum planners and teachers around the world in developing multicultural learning materials. Contains 22 references.
• A Semiotic Analysis of Students' Own Cultural Mathematics
  An ongoing research project that investigates how mathematics educators can prepare prospective and practicing teachers to cope with cultural diversity is presented.
• A Semiotic Framework for Linking Cultural Practice and Classroom Mathematics
  With the increasing recognition that connections are an important component in the pedagogy of school mathematics (National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, 1989), there is a need for a theoretical framework that addresses the ways in which the real experiences and cultural practices of students may be connected with mathematics classroom pedagogy.
• Cultural Diversity in Mathematics (Education): CIEAEM 51
  The 51st meeting of the Commission Internationale pour L'Etude et L'Amelioration de L'Ensignment des Mathematiques (CIEAEM) was held July, 1999 at Chichester, UK and facilitated the collaboration of delegates from over 30 countries providing a variety of perspectives on the theme OCultural Diversity in Mathematics Education'.
• Elastic Geometry and Storyknifing: A Yup'ik Eskimo Example
  Introduces elastic geometry, or topology, into the elementary classroom through the study of connecting the intuitive, visual, and spatial components of storyknifing as well as other everyday and ethnomathematical activities. (ASK).
• Exploring the Game of "Julirde": A Mathematical-Educational Game Played by Fulbe Children in Cameroon
  Presents an educational mathematical activity from Africa. Shows how one child explored the game of Julirde, a game of the mosque emphasizing problem solving and symmetry.
• Geometry in the Middle Grades: A Multicultural Approach
  After appropriate research, 18 geometry lessons were created using a multicultural approach. The lessons were designed to replace portions of a middle grades geometry curriculum dependent upon standard textbooks, and were piloted in an independent New York City school.
• Geometry through Beadwork Designs
  Presents a lesson on geometry and beadwork with five phases of learning as described by Pierre van Hiele to tell the stories of different cultures and study isometry principles. (ASK).
• Issues of Culture in Mathematics Teaching and Learning
  Demonstrates through theory and application that educators can teach mathematics to include more of the often excluded students, especially African Americans. Educators must consider the culture of students as they adopt an accommodating cultural pedagogy to enable students to become part of a mathematics culture.
• Let's Play Mancala and Sungka! Learning Math and Social Skills through Ancient Multicultural Games
  This article describes how teachers can use two African and Asian games (Mancala and Sungka) to help students with learning disabilities succeed in school. It discusses the history of the games, how to play, the benefits of the games for children with disabilities, and choosing which game to use.
• Mathematics in Tribal Philippines and Other Societies in the South Pacific
  Investigates mathematics in the societies of Southeast Asia and the South Pacific with special focus on the Philippines. Presents mathematical practices such as counting and measurement, time, geometry, and logic, in ancient and present day times.
• Mathematics, Multicultural Education, and Professional Development
  Focuses on mathematics multicultural education as a mobilizing force for the development of theory and research which offers a countervision to the way that schooling is usually conducted. Reviews literature that connects multicultural education with mathematics and analyzes how teachers view multicultural education and the impact of multicultural education staff development on mathematics teaching.
• Multicultural Math Classroom: Bringing In the World
  Teachers realize that students are most motivated when they are actively involved in their own learning and dealing with the issues of greatest concern to themselves and their communities. The first three chapters of this book present a rationale for multicultural mathematics education, including an overview of issues, features of a multicultural mathematics curriculum, and connections between mathematics and literature.
• Multicultural Mathematical Ideas: A New Course
  Discusses the need for a college course on multicultural mathematics. Provides information about the course, examining mathematics within various cultural settings both past and present.
• Partnership Teaching: Success for All Children Using Math as a Vehicle
  Using a constructivist and multicultural approach, math skills were taught in urban elementary classrooms. Acceptance of self and others, teamwork, problem solving, and critical thinking were emphasized.
• People, Places, and Mathematics
  Offers weekly activities for students to explore mathematics from different cultures. (ASK).
• Preparing Tomorrow's Teachers: The Field Experience. Teacher Education Yearbook IV
  This yearbook provides educators with current research and practical guidelines for improving the education of teacher candidates and beginning teachers. The book has four sections, each on a particular topic and containing an overview and a response (reflections and implications).
• Seeding Ethnomathematics with 'Oware': Sankofa
  Explains the game of Oware, an African board game that provides rich opportunities for all children to build and extend arithmetical ideas and number sense, develop strategic thinking, and explore important social behaviors. (Contains 22 references.) (ASK).
• Teaching Math and Science to Language Minority Children: Implications for Teachers
  Factors influencing the learning of mathematics in the linguistically diverse classroom are examined, drawing on the literature of mathematics and science instruction and of multicultural education. Teachers are encouraged to be aware that several linguistic, cultural, and cognitive factors affect the learner's academic performance, and to use linguistically and culturally sensitive instructional methods and activities to ensure success in math.
• Teaching Mathematics for Understanding to Bilingual Students
  When children's own strategies for solving mathematical problems are not connected to the way mathematics is taught in school, students fail to make sense of mathematics instruction and begin to "fail." This chapter adopts the position that student understanding of worthwhile mathematical content is the essential goal of mathematics education, and that everything else--curriculum, instruction, and assessment--is a means to that end.
• Teaching Mathematics from a Multicultural Perspective
  Describes principles and instructional strategies for teaching mathematics to culturally diverse students, explaining: fundamental principles of multicultural mathematics; approaches to multicultural mathematics instruction (e.g., portrayal of cultural groups in instructional materials and historical roots of mathematics concepts); and instructional strategies for diverse students (e.g., high expectations, questioning, cooperative learning, and technology use). (SM).
• TexTile Math: Multicultural Explorations through Patterns. Grades 3-6
  This book features 34 reproducible student activities exploring textile design through a combination of mathematics, art, and multicultural education. Using colorful squares and triangles, students explore geometry, numbers, area, fractions, logic, and discrete mathematics, while incorporating multicultural themes in the study.
• The Inclusive Classroom: Mathematics and Science Instruction for Students with Learning Disabilities. It's Just Good Teaching
  The first in a series of guides on the inclusive classroom that offers teachers research-based instructional strategies with real-life examples from Northwest classrooms, this publication focuses on the educational needs of students with learning disabilities in inclusive classrooms. It highlights methods for teaching mathematics and science, and suggests ways to foster collaborative relationships with special education teachers and families of students with learning disabilities.
• The Inclusive Classroom: Mathematics and Science Instruction for Students with Learning Disabilities. It's Just Good Teaching
  The first in a series of guides on the inclusive classroom that offers teachers research-based instructional strategies with real-life examples from Northwest classrooms, this publication focuses on the educational needs of students with learning disabilities in inclusive classrooms.
• The Intersection of Two Unlikely Worlds: Ratios and Drums
  Describes an activity in which students learn to play three mathematically disparate rhythms on conga drums as an introduction to exploring ratios. (Contains 16 references.) (ASK).