Adinkra Mathematics: A study of Ethnocomputing in Ghana

• Babbitt, William ^[1] ; Lachney, Michael ^[1] ; Bulley, Enoch ^[2] ; Eglash, Ron ^[1]
  1. [1] Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

     Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

     City of Troy, Estados Unidos

     
  2. [2] Ayeduase Junior High School
• Localización: REMIE: Multidisciplinary Journal of Educational Research, ISSN-e 2014-2862, Vol. 5, Nº. 2, 2015 (Ejemplar dedicado a: June), págs. 110-135
• Idioma: inglés
• DOI: 10.17583/remie.2015.1399
• Títulos paralelos:
  • Matemáticas Adinkra: Un Estudio de Etnocomputación en Ghana
• Enlaces
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• Dialnet Métricas: 1 Cita
• Resumen
  • español

    Este artículo detalla el desarrollo y la evaluación de un software que permite a estudiantes de secundaria explorar los aspectos matemáticos de los símbolos Adinkra de Ghana. Se puso a prueba su eficacia en una escuela secundaria de Ghana mediante la realización de un casi-experimento aleatorizado. El artículo comienza enmarcando la educación matemática culturalmente responsable en la tradición intervencionista de las etnomatemáticas. Se combina esta tradición con una exploración empírica de las matemáticas presentes en los símbolos Adinkra. A continuación se explica cómo traducir el significado matemático de Adinkra en el diseño del software “Culturally Situated Design Tools”. Por último, se describe la evaluación cuasi-experimental del software usando una asignación aleatoria de estudiantes en grupos de control y grupos de intervención en Ghana. Se encuentra una mejoría estadísticamente significativa en los estudiantes que utilizan el software basado en la cultura, en comparación con un software similar sin contenido cultural.

  • English

    This paper details the development and evaluation of software that allows middle school students to explore the mathematical aspects of Ghanaian Adinkra symbols. We tested the effectiveness of this simulation in a Ghanaian junior high school by conducting a randomized quasi-experiment. We begin this paper by framing culturally responsive math education within the interventionist tradition of ethnomathematics. We draw this tradition together with an empirical exploration of the mathematics embedded in Adinkra symbols. We follow this with a methodological explanation for how we translated the mathematical significance of Adinkra into the design of our software, “Culturally Situated Design Tools.” Finally, we describe the quasi-experimental evaluation of the software using a randomized assignment of students in control and intervention groups in Ghana. We found statistically significant improvement for students using the culture-based software in comparison to similar software with no cultural content.

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