Native American Culture in Math
It’s summer! Why am I bothering you about Native American culture in math class?
First of all, I can tell you for a fact that dates on the calendar are closer than they appear. You may be wanting me to leave you alone now but when August rolls around and you are starting your lesson plans, you’ll thank me.
Is there such a thing as Native American math?
If you are a little puzzled by this idea, you join me and 99% of teachers in schools that have a low density of Native American students. That 99% number wasn’t pulled out of — um — the air. The National Indian Education Study in 2015 found that only 1% of American Indian/ Alaska Native students in “low density” schools, that is where less than a fourth of the students were AI/AN, were exposed to American Indian culture or history in their math class.
Yet, it should be pretty much effortless to implement. I was talking with Miss Jade, who teaches beading at Warwick Public School about all of the patterns that could be turned into math problems.
Take this star quilt as an example. Let’s say we knew that each of the 8 points takes 12 large pieces and that the inside takes 8 medium pieces and 8 small pieces. You can make a bunch of math questions from this.
