Ethnomathematics and its Diverse Approaches for Mathematics Education

Abstract

Ethnomathematics as an important line of study and research in mathematics education investigates the roots of mathematical ideas, procedures, and practices, starting from the way individuals behave in different cultural groups. Over the past three decades, the amount of research, investigations, thesis, and dissertations that dealt with both the theoretical and practical aspects of ethnomathematics has expanded exponentially and worldwide. In this regard, ethnomathematics has come to study our diverse cultural roots of mathematical knowledge starting from the various ways in which the members of distinct cultural groups mathematize. The study of ethnomathematics also considers the historical evolution of the mathematical knowledge with the acknowledgment of all social and cultural factors that mold this development.