Awakening the Mind: Indigenizing mathematics through local story

Czuy, Kori

Awakening the Mind: Indigenizing mathematics through local story

dc.contributor.advisor	Steinberg, Shirley R.
dc.contributor.author	Czuy, Kori
dc.contributor.committeemember	Louie, Dustin William
dc.contributor.committeemember	Seidel, Jackie
dc.date	2021-06
dc.date.accessioned	2020-11-09T18:34:09Z
dc.date.available	2020-11-09T18:34:09Z
dc.date.issued	2020-11-03
dc.description.abstract	This dissertation is a story sprouted from re-connecting and re-membering my mixed Indigenous roots through a (seemingly) simple questioning of mathematics. As I began to explore the cultural components of mathematics, I became interested in the more human, holistic, community, land-based, and spiritual aspects of mathematics. This research, inspired by ethnomathematics was explored through a methodology as based on the sweetgrass braid. This braiding methodology allows multiple ways of knowing mathematics—Indigenous/land-based, personal, and mainstream—to be weaved together through equity, to guide and empower participants (Indigenous and non-Indigenous) to explore and experience mathematics through methods of observation, experience, and spirit, which are based upon an Indigenous theory of the Circle of Life. The research was explored and is presented through weaving together different methods of inquiry, experiencing, and understanding through art, story, and text. This research was guided by Treaty 7 Elders and Knowledge Keepers, who gifted stories to a class of Grade 4 students, their teacher, and myself as researcher. These stories allowed students to explore mathematics with the land, through personal history, culture, and body, while connecting to mainstream mathematical concepts. Many students who showed a disconnect with mathematics at the beginning, surprised themselves by finding and understanding mathematical concepts through the Indigenous stories, outside of the classroom, through personal experience, and on the land. From these stories arose a transformation as students began to see themselves in mathematics. By understanding through multiple ways of knowing, not only can creativity and innovation arise, but so can humility, agency, and humanity. This story created a space for a community to experience and understand Indigenizing mathematics in a class, on Treaty 7 Turtle Island, as achieved through an Indigenous methodology resulting in the sweetgrass braiding pedagogy created for and with community.	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	Czuy, K. (2020). Awakening the Mind: Indigenizing mathematics through local story (Doctoral thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.	en_US
dc.identifier.doi	http://dx.doi.org/10.11575/PRISM/38365
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/1880/112730
dc.language.iso	eng	en_US
dc.publisher.faculty	Werklund School of Education	en_US
dc.publisher.institution	University of Calgary	en
dc.rights	University of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission.	en_US
dc.subject	Indigenous ways of knowing	en_US
dc.subject	Ethnomathematics	en_US
dc.subject	Story	en_US
dc.subject	Treaty 7	en_US
dc.subject.classification	Education--Curriculum and Instruction	en_US
dc.subject.classification	Education--Mathematics	en_US
dc.subject.classification	Education--Sciences	en_US
dc.title	Awakening the Mind: Indigenizing mathematics through local story	en_US
dc.type	doctoral thesis	en_US
thesis.degree.discipline	Education Graduate Program – Educational Research	en_US
thesis.degree.grantor	University of Calgary	en_US
thesis.degree.name	Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)	en_US
ucalgary.item.requestcopy	true	en_US