This document discusses Aboriginal education and mathematics teaching. It includes images and stories about emus to illustrate mathematics concepts. It also discusses using local Aboriginal communities and cultures to make mathematics more relevant and engaging for Aboriginal students. Interactive tasks are provided as examples that incorporate real-world contexts familiar to Aboriginal students to demonstrate numeracy concepts. The document advocates for teaching approaches that value different ways of learning and include visual/imagery, collaboration, and making connections between mathematics and students' lived experiences.

1. Aboriginal Education:
Everyone’s Business
Conference
8 - 9 October 2009
Caty Morris
cmorris@aamt.edu.au

2. How long is a piece of string...?
What can you do that’s mathematical
with your length of string?

3. Emu making a nest.
Mathematics in stories
The Adnyamathanha People, Aboriginal People of the
Flinders Ranges Aboriginal Studies 8-12

4. Emu laying eggs.
The Adnyamathanha People, Aboriginal People of the
Flinders Ranges Aboriginal Studies 8-12

5. Emu sitting on the eggs.
The Adnyamathanha People, Aboriginal People of the
Flinders Ranges Aboriginal Studies 8-12

6. Emu eggs.
The Adnyamathanha People, Aboriginal People of the
Flinders Ranges Aboriginal Studies 8-12

7. Emu standing up in fright.
The Adnyamathanha People, Aboriginal People of the Flinders
Ranges Aboriginal Studies 8-12

8. Nest of eggs left by frightened emu.
The Adnyamathanha People, Aboriginal People of the Flinders
Ranges Aboriginal Studies 8-12

9. Young chicks leaving the nest.
The Adnyamathanha People, Aboriginal People of the
Flinders Ranges Aboriginal Studies 8-12

10. Chicks being taken for a walk by the
male emu.
The Adnyamathanha People, Aboriginal People of the
Flinders Ranges Aboriginal Studies 8-12

11. Men and dogs chase the emu.
The Adnyamathanha People, Aboriginal People of the
Flinders Ranges Aboriginal Studies 8-12

12. The dead emu.
The Adnyamathanha People, Aboriginal People of the
Flinders Ranges Aboriginal Studies 8-12

13. Fat in the body of the emu.
The Adnyamathanha People, Aboriginal People of the Flinders Ranges
Aboriginal Studies 8-12

14. Fat in the tail of the emu.
The Adnyamathanha People, Aboriginal People of the Flinders Ranges
Aboriginal Studies 8-12

15. 15
In 1 minute only tell your partner
about a success story in teaching
mathematics with Aboriginal learners

16. 16
privilege
quality
of
rela0onships
between
individuals
as
more
important
than
the
quan0ty
of
things
learning
socio-­‐cultural
Aboriginal
English
and
code-­‐switch
use
visual
/
imagery
for
learning
bring
to
the
classroom
different
ways
of
learning
/
knowing
What do we know?

17. 17
That
mathema0cs
should
be
developed
solidly
and
taught
in
a
sequen0al
and
systema0c
way
That
it
is
applied
learning
and
connected
to
the
Real
World
and
is
useful
That
the
language
of
mathema0cs
is
explicitly
taught
as
well
as
the
concepts
That
learners
can
be
numerate
but
not
strong
mathema0cal
thinkers
That
the
teaching
of
mathema0cs
should
be
culturally
inclusive/responsive
(Watson
et
al,
2006)
That
there
are
different
ways
of
doing
and
knowing

18. 18
How did you do it?
57 + 38

19. 1 point = 3 months

21. 21
• = The numerate
student
Scott 1999
+ What goes on in
teachers’ heads
Perso 2003
Professional
judgement
FSIM 2005
Some models to consider

22. It’s like playing sport.
Mathematics is the training and
coaching and practice you have
during the week and the numeracy
is when you play the game on
Saturdays.
Maths300 participants, 2003

23. Numeracy is about the ‘Maths we need’.
Numeracy is a cultural construct in that unless
the learned mathematics is ‘practised it is not
necessarily retained as a skill.’
For a child to be numerate they must have the
disposition to draw on mathematics…nurture
the disposition needed to draw on
mathematical skills to gain confidence in risk-
taking and choosing mathematics models with
which to solve problems across a range of
contexts.
Perso, 2003

24. Crossing the River
Three adults and two children want to cross a
river. The small boat will only take one adult, OR
one or two children. Everyone can row the boat!
How many crossing will be needed for everyone
to get to the other side?
Rich mathematical tasks

25. What was educational or
interesting about this task?
How can it be adapted to suit
older / younger age groups?
How would you expect different
age groups to represent the
mathematics?
How can we create valuable
mathematical experiences for
Aboriginal learners?
The mathematics classroom

26. deep learning that is mathematical, social and linguistic
use of home language where students can negotiate
complex ideas with their peers in their home language
enables students to reduce cognitive load created by
translation of basic language and thus free up cognitive
space for the mathematical learning (Zevenbergen &
Niesche, 2008)
collaboration in learning (sense of community)
emotional, aesthetic and personal responses to
mathematics
allow learners to intuit (follow their intuition)
‘aha’ moments
seek and see rich connections between mathematics
strands, across disciplines and with real life
roles within group that develop different ways of thinking
(Numeracy Circles incorporating Mu Dictionary; assessment
for learning, of learning
Group work and rich mathematical tasks

27. Why Interactive
Numeracies?

28. There is currently very little recognition given to
numeracies in Indigenous communities within
our curriculum and pedagogy.
To identify community numeracies and develop
a curriculum resource which can be used in the
classroom with Indigenous and non-Indigenous
students to support best numeracy practice in
teaching and learning.
To make links between the community and the
classroom.

29. Questions…
1. What are numeracies in the community and where, when,
how, why and by whom are they used?
• In what contexts and situations are they used? What
mathematics are built into them?
• What choices or options are made to represent
numeracies, to understand numeracies?
1. How do people choose to use mathematics for particular
purposes?
• How are numerate decisions made?
• What determines the decisions that are made about
numeracies and how mathematics is implemented?
• What affects decision-making?

30. What are we doing…
Taking MATHEMATICAL SKILLS, CONCEPTS
and LANGUAGE and reinforcing them within
familiar contexts
Looking at the numeracies, taking the
CONTEXTS and SITUATIONS and using
them in the classroom to teach maths
Through the tasks, enabling access to
NUMERATE DISCOURSE and NUMERATE
THINKING

31. The communities
Recognised the diversity of numeracies in a
diversity of communities (eg Coober Pedy,
Raukkan, Point Pearce, Port Augusta, Adelaide,
West Coast…)
Used a few snapshots or examples that were
common between them.
Only one example of how community
numeracies can be applied in the classroom.

32. havingfun
sport
employment
leisure
recreation
travel
art
school
holidays
camping
cooking
catering
shopping
entertaining
Christm
as playing cards
caring for kids
family

33. Family Organisation
Shopping
Situations that occur
in everyday family and
community life
Socialising

34. This year I've been coaching an Indigenous football
team. We play in Adelaide metropolitan. The
farthest game we played is Plympton heading south.
Transport was an issue for a majority of our
footballers. We only have a handful that have their
own vehicles so it was up to those guys to
individually negotiate getting rides to training and
getting picked up. Personnel of the club try to
organise rides and try to get players coming past
their house to pick them up.
Financial assistance was an issue. We had to
support players with petrol money to get to training
and to get to games. Club gives $10, $20 to put
petrol in, it's part of their agreement that they pick
up a couple of players that didn't have transport.
That's a strategy we put into place. Seemed to work
well.
This year I've been coaching an Indigenous football
team. We play in Adelaide metropolitan. The
farthest game we played is Plympton heading
south. Transport was an issue for a majority of our
footballers. We only have a handful that have their
own vehicles so it was up to those guys to
individually negotiate getting rides to training and
getting picked up. Personnel of the club try to
organise rides and try to get players coming past
their house to pick them up.
Financial assistance was an issue. We had to
support players with petrol money to get to training
and to get to games. Club gives $10, $20 to put
petrol in, it's part of their agreement that they pick
up a couple of players that didn't have transport.
That's a strategy we put into place. Seemed to
work well.

35. You need
> 3 adults and 2 children models
> one playing board
> 1 or more participants.
What happens
Three adults are travelling on a dirt track
(see playing board) to get to a footy
game, when their car breaks down. They
start walking across a paddock to get
to the main road.
Two children on a motorbike come along and agree to help the adults get
across the paddock to the main road.
The motorbike is so small it can only carry 1 ADULT OR 1 OR 2 CHILDREN.
Everyone can ride the bike.
What to do
Calculate: How many trips will be needed for everyone to get to the main road?
Challenge yourself further
How many trips would be needed if there were:
> 4 adults and 2 children?
> 8 adults and 2 children?
> 11 adults and 2 children?
Footy trip
Goal: to use logic, algebra and patterning to solve a problem
Interactive numeracies • © 2008 Commonwealth of Australia. Produced by the Department of Education and Children’s Services, South Australia. 1
Same maths,
different context

36. Different modes of learning
physical
concrete
manipulatives
diagramatic
abstract
interactive software

37. Story Materials
Picture/Diagram Number sentence
Three adults and two children want
to cross a river. The small boat will
only take one adult, OR one or two
children. Everyone can row the
boat! How many crossing will be
needed for everyone to get to the
other side?
Students use their own stories to help make links. FSIM, 2003
Think Board: multi-representational that caters for different ways of
thinking, learning and representation & situation to operation

38. Forms of Representation
Play Symbolic
FSiM, 2005
I cut the pizza into 8
pieces and shared it
between 4 people
so we each had ?
pieces.
These various forms of representation
include:
• experience-based scripts of real world
events or dramatic play
• manipulatives
• pictures and diagrams
• spoken language
• written symbols in number sentences

39. Teaching within a context
familiar
unfamiliar
content
content
familiar
unfamiliar
context
context
Adapted
from
Stephen
Harris,
1984

40. Contextual teaching strategies
Relating: learning in the context of one’s life experiences
Experiencing:orchestrating hands-on experiences…learning
by doing – through exploration,discovery and invention
Applying:learning by putting the concepts to use. The tasks
pose a realistic situation and demonstrate the utility of mathematics in a
student’s life,current or future
Cooperating:learning in the context of sharing,responding,
and communicating with other learners
Transferring:using knowledge in a new context or situation ie
transferring newly acquired knowledge in unfamiliar situations
Michael Crawford and Mary White
Strategies for Mathematics: Teaching in Context
Educational Leadership, November 1999

41. 41
Contextualising Crossing the River
Decontextualising Digging out the
mathematics
Recontextualising Footy Trip

42. What’s in this resource
Videoed snapshots of stories from Aboriginal
community members on how they use
numeracy in their lives (socialising, work,
shopping)
7 hands-on tasks
Integrated software which allows for extended
learning
Teachers’ notes (including extension options)
NB: This is a resource to consolidate learning. They are not
a substitute for explicit teaching of mathematical skills and
concepts.

43. Tiger – a carnivorous Asian cat, the
Largest member of the cat family.
Animalia – Chordata – Mammalia
– Carnivora- Felidae
Powerful, runs fast;
tawny coat, black stripes
Bengal tiger –occurs in India
Panthera tigris tigris
Siberian tiger – northern
Panthera tigris altaica
A: Defines, proposes, clarifies,
classifies. . .
B: Names, gives examples,
describes how . . .
B: Names, gives examples,
describes how . . .
A: Defines, proposes, clarifies,
classifies. . .
D: Abstracts essence, concept,
expresses as image, analogy . . .
C: Felt meaning, value,
expresses as personal story . . .
C: Felt meaning, value,
expresses as personal story . . .
D: Abstracts essence, concept,
expresses as image, analogy . . .
Footy
Tripi

44. At the same )me…
…teach the language eg by nominalising verbs:
Verb Nominalisa.on
Reflect Reflec)on
Rotate Rota)on
Add Addi)on
Measure Measurement

45. 45
Making a difference
Principal as Leader
•teachers
•professional development
•inquiry / research
•learning outcomes
•teacher incentives
•resources
ACEO as Leader
•parents / community
•Aboriginal voice
•awareness raising
•bridge between school & community
•other organisations
•support staff
AET as Leader
•Aboriginal education
•literacy & numeracy
•teachers
•teacher inquiry /
research / pedagogy
•curriculum
•PD
•innovative approaches
Teacher as Leader
•in the classroom
•Improving learning outcomes
improving and developing pedagogy
•assessment of learning assessing
pedagogy
•curriculum
•talking with other teachers - learning

46. 46
Probably
nothing
has
more
impact
on
students
than
the
personal,
professional
growth
of
their
teacher.
Barth,
R.
1990,
Improving
Schools
From
Within,
Jossey-­‐Bass,
San
Francisco
FSIM
Course
Book,
2007

47. develop cultural competencies
in ourselves and in our learners
have deep mathematical
content knowledge
explicit teaching and learning
(teaching for effective learning)
As educators we need to: