Removing Cultural Barriers to Numeracy.

A plenary address to an Australian conference on adult literacy focuses on cultural barriers to numeracy. Mathematics, and therefore numeracy, is considered as part of cultural knowledge. It is noted that over last decade there has been a growing awareness of cultural basis of mathematical knowledge and teachers can no longer assume that mathematics is culture-free and therefore value-free. Numeracy is defined as the particular mathematical knowledge needed by every citizen to empower them for life in that society. It is shown that particular groups have experienced alienation from and conflict with mathematics as it is commonly t.--,ught. These groups include ethnic minority children in westernized societies, second language students, indigenous minorities in westernized societies, girls in many societies, western colonial students, fundamentalist religious groups, children from lower-class and lower-caste families, physically disadvantaged students, and rural students. It is suggested that key is to first recognize existence and legitimacy of different mathematical practices, and then search for similarities between them. All mathematical knowledge is analyzable into six main categories: counting, locating, measuring, designing, playing, and explaining. Each of these is described and discussed in terms of teaching and learning activities. Some general principles for numeracy teaching are presented (e.g., even if content is specified by a curriculum, context for activities and tasks is open to choice by students and teachers). Contains 27 references. (Adjunct ERIC Clearinghouse on Literacy Education) (LB) ********************************************************************* Reproductions supplied by EDRS are best that can be made from original document. *********************************************************************** 0 REMOVING CULTURAL BARRIERS TO NUMERACY Plenary address to 1992 National Conference of Australian Council for Adult Literacy, University of Sydney, 9 11 October, 1992. Alan J. Bishop Professor of Education Monash University PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRAN-ED BY THE EDUCATIONAL RESDJRCES -,PMA'ION CENTER U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Once of Educational Research and improvement EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES ERIC) INFORMATION CE 'Obis document has been reproduced as received Rom person Or oronrzation onginattng C Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality Fonts of view or opinions stated in this docu, ment do not necessarily represent olticiai OERI position or policy