You’ve likely heard of culturally responsive math education (CRME). But what about culturally responsive math assessment! How can we assess students’ mathematical knowledge and competencies through the practices of CRME?
In this series we explore the nature of culturally responsive mathematics education through connections to land, story, community and mathematics. We look to nature and Indigenous perspectives to conceptualize learning that includes cycles of feedback (with self, others, environment, and materials) and discuss approaches and principles for culturally responsive math assessment.
Session Info:
All sessions take place from 3:30pm to 4:45pm PST.
Session 1 – Culturally Responsive Math Education
Session 2 – Looking to Nature: Math education assessment as cycles of feedback
Session 3 – Practicing Culturally Responsive Math Assessment
Dr. Cynthia Nicol
Cynthia Nicol is a Professor in the Faculty of Education and holds the David F. Robitaille Professorship in Mathematics and Science Education. She lived and taught on Haida Gwaii in B.C.’s Pacific Northwest coast before moving to Vancouver to pursue her doctoral studies. With teachers and communities, she explores new ways of making mathematics responsive to all learners by connecting Indigenous community, culture, and mathematics; emphasizing place and community-based education; re-imagining mathematics education through social and ecological justice issues; and challenging human-centric conceptions of place and STEM education. A current project involves working with teachers, community members, and Elders to explore the nature of culturally responsive pedagogies (CRP)-approaches to teaching that build upon students’ cultural and community experiences and histories.
Dr. Jo-ann Archibald
Indigenous scholar, author, and pioneer in the advancement of Indigenous education, Jo-ann Archibald (Q’um Q’um Xiiem) is the former associate dean for Indigenous Education and director of the Indigenous Teacher Education Program (NITEP), and is professor of Educational Studies in the Faculty of Education at the University of British Columbia. She completed her Bachelor of Education at UBC in 1972 and continued on to earn both a master and doctorate in education. Member of the Stol:lo Nation, Archibald is described as a visionary and an agent of change, and is nationally recognized for creating culturally relevant teacher education and graduate programs for Aboriginal students. During her career of more than 40 years, her work transformed the learning landscape through curriculum and program development, policy, teaching and research.
Read Dr. Archibald’s full bio.
Janice Novakowski
Janice Novakowski, a math consultant for the Richmond School District, is a non-Indigenous educator committed to learning about Indigenous worldviews, perspectives, knowledge, and culture. Janice sat on the Ministry’s mathematics curriculum development team and so has insight into ways to embed Indigenous ways of knowing into mathematics teaching and learning. She explains, “they were very intentional to not include Indigenous culture in the content learning standards . . . because culture is localized.” Therefore, any particular Indigenous cultural content may not be applicable to all Nations, communities, or geographical areas. “Instead, those Indigenous worldviews and perspectives and knowledge are embedded in the curricular competencies.”
Dr. Leyton Schnellert
Dr. Leyton Schnellert is an Associate Professor in UBC’s Department of Curriculum & Pedagogy and Eleanor Rix Professor of Rural Teacher Education. His scholarship attends to how teachers and teaching and learners and learning can mindfully embrace student diversity and inclusive education. Dr. Schnellert is the Pedagogy and Participation research cluster lead in UBC’s Institute for Community Engaged Research (ICER) and co-chair of BC’s Rural Education Advisory. His community-based collaborative work contributes a counterargument to top-down approaches that operate from deficit models, instead drawing from communities’ funds of knowledge to build participatory, place-conscious, and culturally responsive practices. Dr. Schnellert has been a middle and secondary school classroom teacher and a learning resource teacher K-12.
