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    Numeramento

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    Numeramento

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    9 views8 pages

    Numeracy As Social Practice Parte1

    Uploaded by

    Angélica Rodrigues
    Numeramento

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    of 8
    20 Fat Using ete sues for judgements to be made on the basis of long experience and local knowledge, for example, che weather patterns, and local streetscape and traffic patterns which interact with the mathematics embedded in these tasks In Chapter 3, Alangui admires the efficiency of those who build and repair stable and lasting stone walls to support their rice farming terraces in the Philippines. The mathematical knowledge concerns space and shapes, selecting the stones which best corresponded in weight and shape to the spaces which ceded filling, ordering or classifying them according to size and shape, and rotating and positioning them, Wisdom from long experience and community tradition joined with (largely unconscious) mathematical practices to form the numeracy practices which helped them to achieve their purposes. They did not lays get it right — some walls fell; bu repairs reinforced the practices. in Chapter 4, Kalman and Solares join Mexican workers checking their ‘wages and ensuring chey are not exploited by the traders they deal wit. Power relations springing from long historical currents help format the numeracy practices involved — number recognition, counting and calculations, not just numerical bt also of value, calling for quick decisions. In Chapter 5, Boistrup and her colleagues analyze the way in which students in Sweden engaged in building a garden as par ofthe practical work for their courses use different numeracy practices and relate these to the mathematics they are learning in their formal education courses. More ot less accurate ‘measurements, more formal formulae (such 2s Pythagorean triangles) and symmetry in the patterning ofthe tiles being hid, and calculations of building smterial needed were made inthe light ofthe available resources ‘Within each of these examples, mathematical knowledge and skills joined With local knowledge and skills formed the practices that enabled goals eo be achieved 2 ESTIMATION BY KIWIFRUIT ORCHARD MANAGERS AND URBAN REFUSE/RECYCLING OPERATORS WITHIN THEIR SITUATED HORTICULTURAL OR CIVIC WORKPLACE PRACTICES Case studies from New Zealand Phil Kane Introduction Researchers have investigated people's workplace mathematics in occupations such as telecommunications technicians (Tantfilow and Potari 2010), ex- drivers (Chase 1983), and boat-builders Zevenbergen and Zevenbergen 2004) Each study explores how people make sense of quantities and workspaces in their roles, although the mathematics used is usually within a wider se of stated (Lave 199) everyday practices. According to Lave (1996), 8 people make s oftheir circumstances, they are constructing their own inst identities, Situated learning cannot therefore be passive (Stein 1998); rather action and learning take place connecting people, locations, processes, contexts and situations, In this chapter I draw from a socal practices framework (Street 1995, Baker 1998), specifically from a new literacy studies (NLS) perspective (Gee 1996), to characterize practices entailing numeracy in which orchard managers and refuse recycling operators engaged. This is counter to the traditional autonomous tmodel of literacy (Street 2012) where reading and writing ae valued over oracy aud traditional forms of communication. A social practices model of literacy is not reliant on discrete skills but focuses instead on ‘socal, cultural, historical, and institutional contexts’ (Gee 2010, 5). Barton (2006,22) defines ‘what people do with tiracy’ a “literacy practices ... However, practices are not observable lunits of behaviour since they algo involve values, aitades, feelings, and social relationships’ The social practices model is perhaps a closer fit to literacy than vo numeracy. When viewing an incorrect decimal point in a bank transfer, or 22 Phi kane teronous ratio of rw mln an indus pocey, at ‘errors have greater significance (Cockcroft 1982), ° * we AG Uy rekerch design sue nach won sne the varie $s embeded in [ach sion ae be impo econ eo ie (Mera 209, 4) A snge-cae say aproahnne Taran’ flrs opi model het eaktine remanence 6 fs ct orchard managers ccapy& major ake eo Growing export-quality kiwifruit in each site they oversee, Their efforts are. iat judd on postharvest apeanc, ence aa ee oe shite fu, ad ream fr gromerownens,o chard ge eon re 2016 nthe second ca reaeecyeling operons work doce et #5 an we nsponsbl fr empyngercy bain het ees oe most comply withthe rule of ther onpmieaons sad thee ace epitopes whe hy nln, They ae nplaeé a ead ‘transport authority and the local Titorial council authority with its. disgruntled residents. The pespeive of numeracy seed og ey 'S appropriate since the participants ‘numeracy in each context is ae set of Sone! ls ter a autem compe, aed and mesaghl en interests and authority, " Vandever cg i lowing ection begins wit dcsson ef stmaion Bacground he two wordplaces andthe prtcpans are then desta es Pseudonyms), before their respective work practices and img estimation is used are given. —_—- Estimation Estimation practices are of ances of estimation by orchard managers an; refuse/ sited theme ie worse Somder 193 ach sumer ee sPatial reasoning. Estimation is pervasive and probabl . yaad co bresiniy' Lees, Gresham and Wateed 158 aia, evolve to become benchmarks or landmarks, although some are more precise Aepending on the context (Hogan and Morony 2000) * Estimation within stuated woripace practices 22 25 an approximation. Approximating enables decision-making but does riot require more time spent calculating, LeFevre, Greenhara and Waheed (1993) suggest cme is better spent deciding on when to estimate, and on the concepts or estimation. Non-amerjcal around number sense to provide a sound base estimation (Siegler and Booth 2005) involves spatial and relevant geometrical reasoning other chan calculating, Non-nsmerical estimations maybe influenced by natural phenomena (eg. temperature) or by idiosyncratic strategies. For instance, Adams and Harrell (2010, 12) describe a strategy about estimating tyre tread depths, where an American penny is placed in a tyre tread and if ‘one saw ‘all of Lincoln's head (then there was] less than 3/32 of an inch [so] your tre is worn out. Smith (1999) adds that wark teams tran newcomers to industry standard, so practices (like estimation) take time to develop, expecially 2s newcomers must become familiar with the quality ranges and, perhaps, any statistical process control, ‘The workplaces and their participants Kiwifruit orchard managers After viewing horticultural students inspect kiwiffuit vines at polytech ‘orehard, 2 case study of orchard managers was initiated. n view ofthe br of the New Zealand kiwifruit industry, the numeracy practices in the pivotal position of orchard managers only were explored, Tiree managers completing a horticultoral qualification atthe polytechnic wete invited to participate and ‘0, Gary and Dave, volunteered. Interviews revealed that orchard work was essentially seasonal, s0 this guided the coding oftheir stories, FitzSimons (2000) notes that with people's often complex workspaces the mathematics they engage in is notalways definitive. Accordingly this case study focused on the mumeracy practices drawn on by managers during their seasonal workplace practices ‘An easily grown ‘backyard fruit’, the ‘chinese gooseberry’ (ftom 1959 “Kiwiftuit) has been grown commercially since the early 1940s, By 2007, cover 2500 kiwifruit growers contributed 29 per cent of New Zealand’ total horticulsral exports (Mainland and Fisk 2006, Campbell and Haggerty 2008, HortResearch Rangshay Ahumara 2007), swice che volume of apples, the next largest export. The Bay of Plenty (eastern North Island) with its favourable climate and soils has become the prime commercial growing region in the th country ‘The managers had contrasting levels of experience: Gary had worked in the region since the 1980s at fist in dairy farming. Following a serious accident, 4 chance encouneer led him and his partner to kiwiffwit, Thirty years on, the couple now manage orchards and teams of workers for several ownet-growers in the Eastern Bay. The younger manager, Dave, was 2 recent arial although like Gary he had frse worked elsewhere; his esdetship with « packing company soquainted him with every fet of the industry. Dusing his orchard initiation, 24 Pl Kane Dave was mentored by a senior manager, Rod, who had over twenty years’ experience growing kivifrsit, Recycling and refuse operators Following pilot investigation (Chana and Kane 2010), the second ease study investigated collection operators of two South Auckland refuse and recyclables collection companies. Company X employed refuse/tecyclables operators while Company Y contracted recyclables operators only. During the study, Company Y ended its Auckland operations owing to uirelated concerns offshore, and Company X successfully tendered for the vacant territories and absorbed Company Y's thirteen operators. These contractors joined the team of operators but each employment structore remained. By the end of the study, Company X liad a combined team of about thirty-five operators, with a continuum of frganizational responsibilty, with ovmet-operators at one end and employed ‘operators atthe other. The numeracy practices of contractors are more complex; as with any small business, chey must meet legal and financial obligations. Information sheets inviting participation were distributed in each ease, but the

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