Coordinator: Dr. Reema Mani
http://www.hbcse.tifr.res.in/graduate-school
14Wed
Coordinator: Prof. Jyotsna Vijapurkar
Dr. Jayasree Subramaniam
The term ‘Ethnomathematics’ was coined by the Brazilian Mathematics Educator Ubiratan D’ Ambrisio in the year 1977 to refer to forms of mathematical knowledge that are present either explicitly or as implicit knowledge embedded in cultural practices and as community knowledge. Even though inspired by notions such as ethnoscience, Ambrosio distinguishes ethnomathematics from ‘ethnicmathematics’ which refers to mathematical knowledge and practices of indigenous communities. Attempts have been made to incorporate ethnomathematics as part of school mathematics leading to scholarly engagement with the value (or the lack of it) of ethnomathematics in school education and in adult learning. Mathematics educators in India have engaged with ethnomathematics in a limited way and without explicitly arguing about its relevance one way or the other. This presentation seeks to describe the evolution of ethnomathematics as a research program in mathematics education, outline some of the major debates about incorporation ethnomathematics in school education and discuss its relevance for India.
After a PhD in Mathematics, she moved to mathematics education in the year 2005. She was with Eklavya (Madhya Pradesh) for seven years as a fellow in the Curriculum Research and Material Development unit during which time she carried out a longitudinal study to try out an alternative approach to teach fractions, and she brought in a culture of engaging with research literature for carrying out work at the field level. In 2012 she joined TISS as an Associate Professor in the Azim Premji School of Education. She has taught courses, guided Masters and MPhil students, and published journal articles, book chapters and conference papers in the area of Mathematics Education and in Gender &Science.