文档介绍：DEFROSTING AND RE-FROSTING THE IDEOLOGY OF PURE MATHEMATICS: AN INFUSION OF EASTERN-WESTERN PERSPECTIVES ON CONCEPTUALISING A SOCIALLY JUST MATHEMATICS EDUCATION
Bal Chandra Luitel & Peter Charles Taylor
Curtin University of Technology
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Abstract
Adopting a method of writing as inquiry, the paper deconstructs the overriding image of mathematics as a body of pure knowledge, thereby constructing an integral perspective of a socially just mathematics education in Nepal, a south Asian nation that is spiritually and historically rich and culturally and linguistically diverse. Combining a bricolage of storied, interpretive, reflective and poetic genres and an Integral philosophy, we envision a culturally contextualized mathematics education that is inclusive of Nepalese cultural, linguistic and spiritual diversities. This socially just mathematics education would enable Nepalese learners to: (a) co-generate mathematics from their cultural contexts; (b) connect their lived cultural experiences with formal mathematics and vice versa; (c) take up social, cultural and situated inquiry approaches to learning mathematics; and (d) solve real world problems by using different forms of mathematics.
Introduction
How can the notion of social justice be incorporated into mathematics education in Nepal? This es to my mind whilst I (Bal Chandra Luitel) begin to reflect upon my recent professional activities as a mathematics teacher educator, thereby generating a number of nodal moments that demonstrate how the dualist nature of mathematics as a body of pure knowledge together with an arid teacher-centred pedagogy causes prospective teachers to undergo painful learning experiences. Such events resonate with my experience as an undergraduate student who could neither find a meaningful link between mathematics and his lived experiences nor enjoy his mathematics classes (Luitel, 2003). Embedded in the school mathematics curriculum of