Mathematics Teacher Training from Ethnomathematics: a developmental state

Abstract

The goal of this study is to contribute to our understanding of the state of research development about math professors’ training from an ethnomathematics perspective. The empirical material was selected from articles published between 1995 and 2015. The analysis was oriented around four questions: What characteristics should a school curriculum based on an ethnomathematics perspective have? What should the didactic-mathematic knowledge of the professor be in order to attend to such a curriculum? What characteristics do the initial and continuing training courses from an ethnomathematics perspective have? and What theoretical and methodological and theoretical frameworks were used in the investigations? We concluded that the professor must have a creative and reflexive profile, be a researcher, and someone capable of developing a curriculum open to other rationalities; the formation courses teach about the nature of mathematics and the design of activities connected to culture and the methodologies are an important contribution to qualitative-interpretive research. We propose a model about the professional development of the professor and his/her relationship to other elements of the educational system, as well as a structure for a professor formation course from an Ethnomathematics perspective.

Keywords:
Mathematics Teachers Education; Ethnomathematics; Cultural Curriculum; State of the Art