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Considering Indigenous Knowledges and

Mathematics Curriculum
a
Gladys Sterenberg
a
Department of Education and Schooling, Mount Royal University,
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Published online: 28 Feb 2013.

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 CANADIAN JOURNAL OF SCIENCE, MATHEMATICS
AND TECHNOLOGY EDUCATION, 13(1), 18–32, 2013
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ISSN: 1492-6156 print / 1942-4051 online
DOI: 10.1080/14926156.2013.758325

Considering Indigenous Knowledges and Mathematics

Curriculum
Gladys Sterenberg
Department of Education and Schooling, Mount Royal University, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
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Abstract: Across Canada, significant program changes in school mathematics have been made that
encourage teachers to consider Aboriginal perspectives. In this article, I investigate one Aboriginal
teacher’s approaches to integrating Indigenous knowledges and the mandated mathematics curriculum
in a Blackfoot First Nation school. Using a framework that explicates Western and Indigenous
mathematics, I describe two approaches involving the construction of a model house and learning
from place by visiting a sacred site. By problematizing the notion of integration, I claim that developing
an understanding of Indigenous and Western worldviews might offer generative possibilities for this
complex endeavor.
Résumé: Dans tout le Canada, il y a eu des changements significatifs dans les programmes de
mathématiques à l’école, changements qui encouragent les enseignants à tenir compte des points de
vue autochtones dans leur enseignement. Dans cet article, je me penche sur les méthodes utilisées
par un enseignant autochtone pour intégrer les savoirs autochtones dans le curriculum mathématique
obligatoire dans une école Black Foot. À l’aide d’un cadre qui explicite les mathématiques occi-
dentales et autochtones, je décris deux approches qui impliquent la construction d’un modèle de
maison et l’apprentissage partant du lieu grâce à la visite d’un site sacré. En problématisant la notion
d’intégration, je suggère que la compréhension des points de vue autochtones et occidentaux pourrait
générer de vastes possibilités dans ce projet complexe.

INTRODUCTION

In Canada, Aboriginal postsecondary enrollment and completion rates are significantly lower
than those of non-Aboriginals (Canada Millenium Scholarship Foundation, 2004; Mendelson,
2006). This is most evident in disciplines involving science and mathematics (Indian and Northern
Affairs Canada, 2005). Moreover, Aboriginal student achievement in K–12 mathematics courses
is significantly lower than those of non-Aboriginal students (Neel, 2007). In the contemporary
Canadian context of low Aboriginal participation and completion rates in postsecondary studies
of mathematics, it is important to provide Aboriginal students with experiences of mathematics
that foster their interest and ability in the early stages of their schooling (Bourke, Burden, &
Moore, 1996; Council of Ministers of Education, Canada, 2002).

This research was supported by the Canadian Council on Learning.

Address correspondence to Gladys Sterenberg, Associate Professor, Department of Education and Schooling, Mount
Royal University, 4825 Mount Royal Gate SW, Calgary, AB T3E 6K6, Canada. E-mail: gsterenberg@mtroyal.ca
 INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGES AND MATHEMATICS CURRICULUM 19

Significant program changes in school mathematics have been made across Canada that
encourage teachers to consider Aboriginal perspectives, and this might provide opportunities
to foster Aboriginal students’ interests and abilities. For example, the Common Curriculum
Framework for K–9 Mathematics: Western and Northern Canadian Protocol (Alberta Education,
2006) that informs programs of studies in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba,
Northwest Territories, Yukon Territory, and Nunavut now includes Aboriginal perspectives and
broad statements are made about teaching and learning: “Teachers need to understand the diversity
of cultures and experiences of [Aboriginal] students,” and “A variety of teaching and assessment
strategies is required to build upon the diverse knowledge, cultures, communication styles, skills,
attitudes, experiences and learning styles of [Aboriginal] students” (p. 3). Similarly, the Ontario
Curriculum, Grades 1–8: Mathematics (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2005) states:
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Learning activities and resources used to implement the curriculum should . . . enable students to
become more sensitive to the diverse cultures and perceptions of others, including Aboriginal peoples.
For example, activities can be designed to relate concepts in geometry or patterning to the arches
and tile work often found in Asian architecture or to the patterns used in Aboriginal basketry design.
(p. 28)

Though mathematics program documents for Quebec (Gouvernement du Québec, 2001) and the
Atlantic provinces (Atlantic Provinces Education Foundation, 1996) do not specifically identify
a focus on Aboriginal perspectives, they include a consideration of the cultural diversity of all
students. Presumably this could include Aboriginal students.
In response to the mandate for teachers to consider Aboriginal perspectives, often suggestions
for the integration of Indigenous knowledges and mathematics are offered as a way to contextu-
alize and enact these programs of studies (Coalition for the Advancement of Aboriginal Studies,
2003; Manitoba Education and Youth, 2003). In this study, I investigate one Aboriginal teacher’s
approaches to considering Indigenous knowledges and the mandated mathematics program of
studies in a Blackfoot First Nation school. For her, teaching from an Aboriginal perspective
involved a process of determining what was meaningful and relevant to the students that honored
the ancestors of the place in which her students lived and learned. In the context of a reserve
school, it meant enacting a curriculum by revering the land and people from whom the students
came.
To situate the research for the reader, I begin with a description of the nature of Indigenous
knowledges followed by an explication of current approaches to integrating Indigenous knowl-
edges and mathematics in North America. It is important to note that though I describe this
investigation as a researcher, the ideas expressed in this article have been vetted by the teacher
with whom I am in relation in accordance with community protocols established at the beginning
of the project.

LITERATURE

Understanding Indigenous Knowledges

A deep understanding of Indigenous knowledges is needed in order to integrate Indigenous

knowledges and mathematics curricula in respectful and appropriate ways. One of the difficulties
 20 STERENBERG

with describing the nature of Indigenous knowledges is that much of the research literature
has focused on taxonomic categories that emphasize traditional aspects of knowledge that have
remained static. Battiste (2002) emphasized the holistic nature of Indigenous knowledges and
suggested that “Indigenous knowledge comprises the complex set of technologies developed and
sustained by Indigenous civilizations” (p. 2). In her view, Indigenous knowledge is “an adaptable,
dynamic system based on skills, abilities, and problem-solving techniques that change over time
depending on environmental conditions” (Battiste, 2002, p. 11). She stated that Indigenous peoples
have a complete knowledge system different from a Eurocentric system and that this knowledge is
holistic and fundamentally important to Indigenous peoples. For Indigenous peoples, knowledge is
a process, not a commodity. Customs for acquiring and sharing knowledge exist, thus emphasizing
the responsibility and importance of knowledge holders.
In the Blackfoot context, balance and harmony with the environment are recognized as part
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of the knowledge system. Bastien (2004) wrote, “Ontological responsibilities of Siksikaitsitapi

are the beginning of affirming and reconstructing ways of knowing. These fundamental respon-
sibilities must be renewed by coming to know the natural alliances” (p. 4). She suggested that
Indigenous knowledges are linked to intricate interrelationships within nature. The environment
is understood as “the source from which all life originates and from which all knowledge is born”
(Bastien, 2004, p. 39). Writing about Blackfoot physics, Peat (2002) emphasized the importance
of the web of interrelationships in nature and suggested that Indigenous knowledges come through

direct experience of songs and ceremonies, through the activities of hunting and daily life, from trees
and animals, and in dreams and visions. Coming-to-knowing means entering into relationship with
the spirits of knowledge, with plants and animals, with beings that animate dreams and visions, and
with the spirit of the people. (p. 65)

Integrating Indigenous Knowledges and Curricula

In North America, teachers, knowledge holders, and researchers in Aboriginal communities have
considered various ways of integrating Indigenous knowledges and mathematics curricula from
culturally responsive perspectives. One such example is Math in a Cultural Context, a culturally
based mathematics curriculum for Yup’ik students in Alaska (Lipka, 1994). The curriculum is
informed by Western and Indigenous knowledges and includes mathematics content knowledge,
pedagogical knowledge, and contextual knowledge (Lipka et al., 2005). It was developed jointly
in collaboration with Yup’ik elders, teachers, schools, and communities. Modules within the
mathematics curriculum for elementary students include Yup’ik knowledge about star navigation,
kayak construction and use, and parka patterns. What makes this curriculum unique is the
emphasis on starting from the elders’ knowledge.
The Transformative Education for Aboriginal Math and Science Learning (TEAMS-Learning)
at the University of British Columbia is comprised of graduate students and faculty members who
pursue research partnerships with teachers, parents, elders, schools, and communities to improve
mathematics and science teaching and learning at the K–12 level. Involved in this initiative, Nicol
and Archibald (2009) focused on creating and living culturally responsive mathematics education
in both rural and urban settings and considered how we can use community, culture, and place as
inspirations for mathematics. In one project, Nicol asked teachers to design a lesson based on an
audio recording of a traditional story as told by community elders and youth. In the story, Raven
 INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGES AND MATHEMATICS CURRICULUM 21

brings light to the world after taking it from a series of nested boxes. The mathematics lesson
invites students to explore the mathematics of building boxes out of paper (Sterenberg et al.,
2010). Nicol and Archibald (2009) consistently emphasized the importance of forming strong
relationships with Aboriginal communities.
These examples of how culturally responsive education can be enacted in specific cultural
contexts offer insights when considering the integration of Indigenous knowledges and school
mathematics. In these projects, accumulated generational knowledges of living in a particular
place are incorporated into mathematics curricula through traditional stories, activities such as star
gazing, and the study of patterns used on clothing. Specifically, designing mathematical activities
situated in places relevant to the experiences of the children in the community has informed
my study. Elder participation and attention to content knowledge, contextual knowledge, and
pedagogical knowledge are important. However, extracting specific artefacts of the curricula
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(e.g., parka patterns) can be problematic when the long-term relational nature of curriculum
development within the community is ignored.
Though there are examples of authentic integration of Indigenous knowledges and mathemat-
ics, other approaches have not been respectful. Battiste (2002) critiqued three main approaches
taken by educators when integrating Indigenous knowledges and curricula: reducing Aboriginal
knowledge to static taxonomic categories (categorizing knowledge, practices, and techniques
used by Indigenous peoples and assuming that these are immutable), reducing it to its observable
empirical elements (assuming that Indigenous peoples’ local knowledge of a particular geograph-
ical area can be elicited by scientists), and assuming that it has no validity in educational realms
(treating Indigenous knowledges as normative or spiritual). These approaches, she suggested,
ignore the holistic nature of Aboriginal knowledge and its fundamental importance to Aboriginal
peoples.
Some approaches of integrating Indigenous knowledges and mathematics can portray cultural
understandings of mathematics in tokenistic ways. For example, the problem below was included
in teacher resource materials written by authors attempting to contextualize word problems:

Imagine a band of 250 Aboriginal People. Each tipi can hold approximately eight people. Calculate
how many tipis would be needed to house the entire band. (Heritage Community Foundation, 2009)

Here, looking for mathematics in cultural activities seems inappropriate. Included in a series
of mathematics lessons designed to help teachers create authentic connections to Indigenous
youth, this problem has no contemporary relevance. The tokenistic reference to tipis falls short
of providing a context that Indigenous youth can relate to. Indeed, the students are asked to
“imagine,” removing the need for students to have direct experience involving tipis. The cultural
practices of living in community are not recognized: families are not limited to eight people. This
is an arbitrary number, chosen to provide a situation where students can practice their skills in
dividing a three-digit number by a one-digit number. There is one answer to this problem and
the problem is inauthentic. The subtext is that adapting textbook questions to include tokens of
Indigenous artefacts is an acceptable way of integrating Indigenous knowledges and mathematics.
The purpose of this research is to investigate this question: What are one Aboriginal teacher’s
approaches when creating instructional tasks based on integrating Indigenous knowledges and
mathematics curriculum? In this article, I present insights into one teacher’s consideration of
 22 STERENBERG

Indigenous mathematics and Western mathematics in relation to the research question. In the next
section, I offer a theoretical framework for each of these types of mathematics.

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

Mathematics can be defined and understood in many different ways. To gain a better understanding
of these various perspectives, I draw parallels and distinctions between views of mathematics and
Ogawa’s (1995) perspectives of science. Ogawa (1995) proposed three subcategories of science
of interest to educators: Indigenous science, Western modern science, and personal science.
Indigenous science refers to the science in a particular culture that reflects a collective worldview.
Examples of Indigenous science could include Chinese science, Japanese science, or Aboriginal
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science. Ogawa (1995) described Western modern science as “a collective rational perceiving
of reality, which is shared and authorized by the scientific community” (p. 589). Rather than
focusing on natural phenomena, “Western modern science pertains to a Cartesian materialistic
world in which humans are seen in reductionistic and mechanistic terms” (Ogawa, 1995, p. 589).
Personal science is unique to each person and involves personal observations or explanations of
the world.
Ogawa (1995) believed that all cultures have empirical-based rational descriptions and expla-
nations of the physical world. The term science is used to refer to the encompassing notion of
science as a rational perceiving of reality. Ogawa (1995) claimed that rationality is not the same
as Western rationality but is viewed in a relativistic perspective where rationality is linked to
worldview. He supported his argument by citing Takeuchi:
Worldview is just like the axiom in a mathematical system. Thus, worldview upon which rationalism
is based must have logical consistency in itself and give high priority to the reason of humans, but it
is not necessarily the only one form of worldview. (Ogawa, 1995, p. 587)

Drawing on Ogawa’s (1995) distinctions between Indigenous science and Western modern sci-
ence, I similarly recognize a relativistic perspective of mathematics and note that worldviews and
knowledge systems are deeply connected.
I want to emphasize that I am not suggesting that Indigenous and Western types of mathematics
are binary opposites. Moreover, I want to note that the category of Western mathematics is
problematic. By ignoring the historical development of mathematical knowledge in non-Greek
places such as Africa, China, the Middle East, India, and Central and South America, the myth of
mathematics as a European discipline is promoted and sustained with this labeling. However, for
the purposes of this article, these types of mathematics are helpful in providing a framework for
describing the experiences of one Aboriginal teacher when approaching the very complex task
of integrating Indigenous knowledges and mathematics curricula.

Indigenous Mathematics

Drawing on Ogawa’s (1995) notion of Indigenous science, Indigenous mathematics refers to the
mathematics in a particular culture that reflects a collective worldview. Therefore, Indigenous
mathematics relies on Indigenous knowledges because it is based on knowledges of mathemat-
ics that a community creates through generations of living in a particular place. Indigenous
 INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGES AND MATHEMATICS CURRICULUM 23

mathematics situates mathematics as an integrated part of the superordinate science. Mathemat-

ics understood in this way does not exist as a separate body of knowledge but is integrated into
a holistic worldview. Here, I retain the notion of science as a superordinate concept that sub-
sumes Indigenous and Western mathematics (Aikenhead & Ogawa, 2007). Hence, Indigenous
mathematics is viewed as subordinate to science and as an integral part of Indigenous science.
Cajete (2000) suggested that Native science is “the collective heritage of human experience
with the natural world; in its most essential form, it is a map of natural reality drawn from the
experience of thousands of human generations” (p. 3). He wrote, “As we experience the world, so
we are also experienced by the world. Maintaining relationships through continual participation
with the natural creative process of nature is the hallmark of Native science” (Cajete, 2000, p. 20,
italics in original). Cajete (2000) described a broad perspective of Native science that includes
metaphysics, philosophy, art, architecture, agriculture, and ritual and ceremony practices by
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Indigenous peoples. This worldview of science involves studies related to the Earth and extends
to include “spirituality, community, creativity, and technologies that sustain environments and
support essential aspects of human life” (Cajete, 2000, p. 2). He suggests:

Native science is born of a lived and storied participation with the natural landscape. To gain a sense
of Native science one must participate with the natural world. To understand the foundations of
Native science one must become open to the roles of sensation, perception, imagination, emotion,
symbols, and spirit as well as that of concept, logic, and rational empiricism. (Cajete, 2000, p. 2)

Indigenous mathematics fits within this worldview.

The phrase Indigenous knowledges can be used to mean the same as the phrase Aboriginal
perspectives. However, in this article, I make a distinction between these phrases. Aboriginal
perspectives is used by the provincial government. Implied in the word perspective (2011) is a
preoccupation with sight and an individual point of view. One limitation of using this term is
the inherent notion that knowledge is linked to perceptions that could change if something is
perceived in a different way. In other words, perspectives can be thought of as relativistic and
individual and thus distinct from Indigenous knowledges that form a system of knowing. The
teacher in this study refers to her work in the context of Aboriginal perspectives. I assume that
this is because of the language used in the program of studies document. When asked to consider
Aboriginal perspectives, the teacher commented:

Teaching from an Aboriginal perspective is simply finding what is meaningful and relevant to the
students that honours the ancestors of the host territory in which teachers live and teach. It means
teaching the curriculum and addressing silent identity issues simultaneously by revering the land and
people from which the students came. This can be accomplished by continuing to find meaning in
places and inviting students to see the world mathematically and intuitively. (October 15, 2008)

This is consistent with what I mean by Indigenous knowledges.

Throughout this article, I use the term Indigenous mathematics to refer to the mathematics of a
particular community (in this case, a Blackfoot community) that reflects Indigenous knowledges.
I use the phrase Aboriginal perspectives when referring to specific programs of studies and have
retained the teacher’s use of this phrase.
 24 STERENBERG

Western Mathematics

In much of educational literature, the term mathematics is taken to mean Western mathematics.
Here, I use the term Western mathematics to refer to the Western modern discipline that is
taught in schools. This is an important distinction because Western school mathematics differs
from how mathematics is viewed by mathematicians. Mankiewicz (2000) suggested, “[Western]
mathematics is not about impenetrable symbols. It is about ideas: ideas of space, of time, of
numbers, of relationships. It is a science of quantitative relationships” (p. 8). However, the
emphasis on quantifying procedures rather than a focus on relationships often becomes the
sole priority in school mathematics. Aikenhead and Ogawa (2007) described this worldview as
materialistic with objective mathematical relationships. They suggested that the quantification
of nature tends to “objectify an entity or event by stripping it of qualitative, human, or spiritual
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attributes (i.e. stripping it of intelligible essences)” (Aikenhead & Ogawa, 2007, p. 550) and
claimed that in this worldview, observations of the world and our experiences in it are ignored.
Using a framework that considers Indigenous and Western mathematics in an educational
context, I hope to better understand the approaches of one Aboriginal teacher as she seeks to
integrate Indigenous knowledges and mathematics curriculum.

METHODOLOGY

This study falls within an Indigenous paradigm of social science research. Wilson (2007) used
the term Indigenist to identify a research paradigm related to Indigenous knowledges. He chose
to use this term because he believed “that an Indigenist paradigm can be used by anyone who
chooses to follow its tenets” (p. 193). Wilson (2007) also suggested that in order to describe and
use an Indigenist research paradigm “researchers and authors need to place themselves and their
work firmly in a relational context” (p. 194). As a researcher, I have placed myself in such a
context and have followed its tenets. My work adheres to Wilson’s (2007) guiding principles of
Indigenist research. Specifically, it is conducted in a spirit of kindness, honesty, and compassion
and it attempts to respect the interconnectedness of all forms of life.
The context for the study was a secondary school in a Blackfoot First Nation community.
The research project investigated one teacher’s approaches to integrating Indigenous and Western
mathematics. Consistent with Indigenist research (Weber-Pillwax, 2004), this study was respon-
sive to questions identified and initiated by a teacher of the Aboriginal community. Through a
mutual friend, I was invited by the teacher, Bryony, to work alongside her as she constructed
and implemented a series of mathematics lessons focused on Indigenous knowledges. In order to
begin, she worked closely with the school principal to garner permission from the First Nation
superintendent of education to engage in this study.
Though I describe this research as a case study, I want to acknowledge the depth and complexity
of the professional relationship I have with Bryony. Whereas I brought expertise in content
knowledge, Bryony held contextual knowledge. Throughout this project, we cocreated lessons
and our conversations focused on the act of listening and on developing a strong relationship.
Carbaugh (1999) described listening as dwelling-in-place. He suggested that Blackfeet listening
is a “highly reflective and revelatory mode of communication that can open one to the mysteries
of unity between the physical and spiritual, to the relationships between natural and human
 INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGES AND MATHEMATICS CURRICULUM 25

forms, and to the intimate links between places and persons” (Carbaugh, 1999, p. 250). Blood
(Sterenberg et al., 2010), a Blackfoot elder, said:

Really what it is for my people, and I think all of us and sometimes we forget, really what it is all
about is this relationship. Ultimately, that’s who we are. It’s relationship. If you want to learn about
the Blackfoot, it’s about relationship and relationship and relationship. About everything. (p. 26)

Integral to our work was a sense of dwelling-in-place and the development of a strong relationship.
Bryony and I met biweekly 14 times during a 10-month period. Eleven of our conversations fo-
cused on her thinking processes, questions, and comments as she constructed two series of lessons
for her Grade 9 students and examined her emerging understandings about integrating Indigenous
and Western mathematics. This was followed by three conversations about the implementation
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of her plans.
In this article, a case study approach (Gillham, 2000; Stake, 2000) is used to reveal one teacher’s
approaches to creating instructional tasks that integrated Indigenous and Western mathematics. To
address the research question, conversations were recorded and transcribed, researcher field notes
were written, and curriculum artefacts, namely, the lessons, were gathered. Data were analyzed
using qualitative methods to identify common themes consistent with the theoretical framework.

FINDINGS

Emphasizing Western Mathematics

The first series of lessons Bryony created involved a model house construction. Working from a
published unit (Sterenberg, Oostenbrink, & Vande Heuvel, 1997), she decided to focus on ratios
and the mathematics of scale drawing. In her search for how house building might be integrated
with Indigenous mathematics, she found many resources that focused on tipi construction. When
she considered whether she would integrate tipi construction into this unit, Bryony insisted that
it would need to connect to contemporary settings. She suggested that the students could be
shown the Sun Dance grounds because this was where tipis were still erected: “If you see the
Sun Dance, [the tipis] are all in basically a circle . . . their family has been camping there for
300–400 years. That’s been where their family camps.” (March 20, 2009) By using maps of
First Nations Peoples who used tipis, Bryony suggested that she might introduce the students
to differences in construction designs as Nations adapted to the wind and the landscape by
using three poles instead of four and by building lodges closer to the ground. Using traditional
knowledge about tripod structures, she might show students how triangles were used in their
roofs and how the strength in triangles applied today.
In our conversations about integrating Indigenous and Western mathematics, Bryony was
offended by “pan-Indian” homogenization of Indigenous culture:

If Aboriginal perspectives are only to be included from a historical framework, it takes our identity
away: All I am is what happened to my people a long time ago. If I become disconnected from that, I
have no identity. Students must see how traditional concepts or community ways of knowing continue
and can be carried forward. (March 20, 2009)
 26 STERENBERG

She wanted to avoid this and tokenism. She stated, “I hated that when I was in school and teachers
would say, ‘We’re going to learn about the Indians this week and make a little something, you
know, out of construction paper.’“ She noted, “Some teachers might think they are being authentic
because they are using resources and activities that are deemed ‘Aboriginal’ ” (March 20, 2009).
As a student, she encountered many instances of tokenistic inclusions and these did not impact
her learning positively:

I could not see myself reflected in that craft we made or in that story we read. Therefore, my teachers
had not taught us a true Indigenous perspective of knowing. It only served to make me feel more
invisible. I do not want that for my students because it is perpetuating stereotypes; it is pan-Indian.
It feels like you are not really trying to make a connection. I believe students recognize that. (March
20, 2009)
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As she implemented the lessons, she was challenged to adapt the house construction project to
include Indigenous mathematics in a contemporary context. Bryony had her students pace out the
fields and draw them to scale, worked with the social studies teacher to coordinate the drawing
of scale maps with the students, met with community members to arrange a visit by the housing
committee, showed her students house plans used by their First Nation band, had students draw
scale pictures from magazine photographs, had students furnish their homes within a specified
budget, researched rates of pay (band counselor, gas attendant off-reserve, welfare distributions),
and had students predict how long it would take for them to save for house furnishings. Her
lessons involved much discussion on band policies and procedures and tax structures on- and
off-reserves. These provided many more relevant experiences for the students than did the lessons
in the published unit.
Her first attempt at integrating Indigenous and Western mathematics involved adding an
Aboriginal perspective to a unit designed to match the mandated Western mathematics program
of studies. The process of creating this series of lessons required a lot of work in adapting the
published unit. For example, the unit was based on a problem-solving task that asked students
to design various floor plans while maintaining a size of 120 m2 (mathematically important as
students experience the relationship between a changing perimeter and a constant area). However,
within the reserve context, members of this community are provided with a minimal choice of
two house plans designed by Indian and Northern Affairs of Canada based on construction
efficiencies. Bryony stated, “What Western people find appealing in a house is different than
what First Nation people find appealing in a house because most First Nation people . . . want
their edifices to blend with the environment” (March 20, 2009). Houses on the reserve are not
individually owned and tend not to be valued as possessions. Décor decisions and paint colors
for the walls are not important, as Bryony explained:

They’ll put blankets, like beautiful Pendleton blankets and things like that on the wall to add colour
and design, but not with paint. No. I personally, out of my own family, friends, people I’ve dated,
I’ve never heard anyone saying, “I don’t like the colour of my walls” or ever heard of them painting
or ever seeing them painting. Never, nothing. That just doesn’t matter. It’s not a valued thing. (March
20, 2009)

For these students, the house construction unit did not resonate with their experiences. In this
context, planning a project that focused on comparing different floor plans, incorporating deco-
rating decisions, and placing value on an object such as a house were not appropriate approaches
to integrating Indigenous mathematics. Though Bryony was able to make this relevant to her
 INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGES AND MATHEMATICS CURRICULUM 27

students by contrasting her experiences of living in an off-reserve house to their experiences

living on-reserve and by working hard to find authentic connections, she wondered what a math-
ematics project that started from Indigenous mathematics might look like.

Emphasizing Indigenous Mathematics

In her quest to better understand the relationship between Indigenous and Western mathematics,
Bryony had lengthy conversations with an elder who was interested in research on learning from
place. Byony had read Cajete’s (2000) book as an undergraduate student and this book was
recommended to her by the elder. Little Bear (2000), who wrote the foreword in Cajete’s book,
described the land as integral to the Native American mind. He suggested:
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Events, patterns, cycles, and happenings occur at certain places. From a human point of view, patterns,
cycles, and happenings are readily observed on and from the land. Animal migrations, cycles of plant
life, seasons, and cosmic movements are detected from particular spatial locations; hence, medicine
wheels and other sacred observatory sites. Each tribal territory has its sacred sites, and its particular
environmental and ecological combinations resulting in particular relational networks. All of this
happens on the Earth; hence, the sacredness of the Earth in the Native American mind. The Earth is
so sacred that it is referred to as “Mother,” the source of life. (Little Bear, 2000, p. xi)

Learning from place emphasizes a relationship with the land, something uniquely respected in
Indigenous communities and something absent from much of Western mathematics instruction.
Battiste (2002) linked Indigenous knowledge to particular “landscapes, landforms, and biomes
where ceremonies are properly held, stories properly recited, medicines properly gathered, and
transfers of knowledge properly authenticated” (p. 13). These researchers acknowledge the pro-
found relationship that Indigenous peoples have to the natural world. Engaging the students in
a study of mathematics and the land might provide a way of authentically relating Indigenous
knowledges and mathematics curricula.
More researchers are beginning to better understand student learning of mathematics from
place. Boyer (2006) described four Indigenous programs aimed at increasing student achievement
in mathematics and claimed that learning from place had a significant impact on student learning.
Though test scores did improve, Boyer (2006) also noted the positive impact of these programs
on empowering local leaders, raising expectations of parents, and shifting the school culture in
fundamental ways. Other researchers also documented increased student achievement in mathe-
matics when students engage in place-based education in Indigenous settings (Hill, Kawagley, &
Barnhardt, 2006; Lewicki, 2000; Loveland, 2002). It appears that student learning of mathematics
can be significantly impacted when implementing relevant, place-based curriculum. Bryony won-
dered how this could inform her approach to integrating Indigenous and Western mathematics.
Drawing on this literature and on historical connections of the Blackfoot community to
the Majorville Medicine Wheel, she began considering how learning from place might help
her integrate Indigenous knowledges and Western mathematics. Located in what is now called
southern Alberta, the Majorville Medicine Wheel was partially excavated in 1971 and later
declared a Designated Provincial Historic Resource in 1987 (Vickers, 1993). It consists of a
large cairn (9 m in diameter) surrounded by a medicine wheel (27 m in diameter) with 28 spokes
originating from the center. Though its purpose was not known, it was believed to be a ceremonial
site used for vision quests, Sun Dances, or tracking astrological alignments (Vickers, 1993). The
elder spoke to her about the sacredness of this site and told her the story of how the Iniskim
 28 STERENBERG

(buffalo stones) were given to the Blackfoot people and how the people were taught to call the
buffalo in order to prevent starvation.
Together with the elder, Bryony planned a collection of learning centers and activities that
attempted to integrate Indigenous knowledges and Western mathematics. Two of the centers
involved Western mathematics and two focused on the significance of the place. She invited a
government archaeologist to talk about how coordinate geometry was used to excavate the site
and designed a task involving grid locations for the students. She created a center where students
investigated the relationship between the diameter, radius, and circumference of various objects
including the medicine wheel and where students engaged in some orienteering activities using
a compass. Her mom was invited to engage the students in reflective writing about the site and a
Blackfoot cultural teacher working at a provincial interpretive center was asked to talk about the
Indigenous mathematical and cultural significance of the medicine wheel. The elder volunteered
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to introduce the day by leading the students in prayer and offerings at the site and talking about
the cleansing ceremony that was planned for the day before in preparation for our visit. He also
suggested that the story of the Iniskim be told first. Following the centers, Bryony arranged time
for the cultural elder and the archaeologist to talk about the scientific and Indigenous knowledges
of the Majorville Medicine Wheel.
When we arrived at the site, the elder began with a prayer and offering and then talked with
the students about the land and the importance of the land. The cultural teacher was invited to
tell the story of the Iniskim, which are sacred calling stones; the Iniskim call out to people to
find them. When he told the story of the Iniskim, the students wanted to look for them. Bryony
described the significance of this moment:
And, you know, it wasn’t part of all the things that we had structurally ready for them to do, you
know. We had the orienteering for them to do and we had a Plains archaeologist come and show them
how to do the dig, how sites were excavated, and the math involved in that. But they wanted to go
and look for Iniskim and it sort of took us on a different cultural path, but we just kind of rolled with
it. And they were so excited; some students found them. [The cultural teacher] really helped us on
that path. He sort of helped the students along and they were very excited. (October 15, 2008)

What was unique about this experience was her approach to planning and implementing.
Rather than starting from Western mathematics, she started from a consideration of Indigenous
knowledges. We visited the land and she provided students with the opportunity to respond to the
teachings of the land. Rather than proceeding with her planned Western mathematics centers, she
was flexible in recognizing the significance of learning from place. When we returned to the class-
room, the students readily engaged in the related Western mathematics centers we had planned.
Bryony claimed, “They’d understood why this place was important and were now able to
incorporate the math” (March 12, 2008). By feeling a connection to the place, the students were
able to relate their knowledge of the land to the mathematics.
Putting aside her lesson plans and allowing the students to experience the stories of the land
had an impact on later attitudes toward mathematics. An Iniskim1 was found by the archaeologist
who had planned an excavation task on coordinate geometry. Bryony explains what unfolded:
[The archaeologist] didn’t really feel comfortable having it, and she gifted it to one of the students
who really, really wanted to find one and give it to his grandmother. And she gifted it to him, and his
attitude and participation in math changed so dramatically after that experience. It was weird. And
we thought that had nothing to do with math; we thought that part had nothing to do with math. After
 INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGES AND MATHEMATICS CURRICULUM 29

this fieldtrip and him being gifted with that very sacred stone from someone that he had just met from
outside his community, it just—I don’t know what it did in him but all of a sudden he did his math.
He didn’t fight me on it, he wasn’t skipping—he did it. He wasn’t like, “I love math!” but he changed
a lot, and it was very, very noticeable. (October 15, 2008)

Reflecting on her observations of the students, Bryony noted that integrating Indigenous and
Western mathematics through place made students feel more connected to their land and commu-
nity. The students were proud and expressed concern for the care and treatment of traditional sites.
Students became more willing to express themselves mathematically and were more confident
in their mathematical knowledge and skills. Students seemed to have a positive attitude about
their own perceptions that engaging in mathematics was a human and social endeavor. Bryony
suggested that students felt “their ways of knowing are valid, that their ways of knowing can carry
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them into any subject” (October 15, 2008). It was her belief that learning from place offered an
authentic context for integrating Indigenous and Western mathematics.

DISCUSSION

The two descriptions of integrating Indigenous and Western mathematics in this study exemplified
two approaches. One approach began from Western mathematics and attempted to attach an
Aboriginal perspective. The second approach began from Blackfoot knowledge of the land and
Western mathematics was related to the students’ experiences afterwards. Bryony believed that the
second series of lessons was more authentic because Indigenous knowledges were not integrated
in tokenistic ways but were central to planning appropriate and relevant learning experiences
for the students. Learning from place prompted Bryony’s consideration of ways to integrate
Indigenous knowledges and mathematics curriculum that seemed relevant and respectful.
When Bryony attempted to integrate Indigenous and Western mathematics, she noticed that
she considered each separately. Because each type of mathematics reflects a different worldview,
she seemed to have difficulty finding commonalities without layering one type onto the other. For
example, in the first approach, she began with Western mathematics and tried to add Aboriginal
perspectives. In the second approach, she began with Indigenous mathematics and prepared
related centers that focused on Western mathematics. She was unable to integrate Indigenous and
Western mathematics because she was challenged to make sense of two types of mathematics
with differing worldviews.
The differing worldviews seems to be problematic when considering how Indigenous and
Western mathematics can be integrated. A worldview that emphasizes Western mathematical
measurements may not coincide with how nature is experienced by the Aboriginal peoples.
Nature cannot be superimposed by Western mathematics and examined from a mathematical
grid. Little Bear (2000) suggested that Aboriginal science is a pursuit for knowledge and is not
based on measurement because Native Americans never claim regularities as laws or finalities; the
only constant is change. This can be related through the tradition of Native American storytelling
because it is not the actual words but the living experience that gives a holistic treatment of
“livingness” and “spirit” (Little Bear, 2000, p. xii). This is viewed as a fundamental gap in
Western mathematics.
Rather than emphasizing the integration of Indigenous and Western mathematics, it seems
that focusing on developing an understanding of Indigenous and Western worldviews might
 30 STERENBERG

offer generative possibilities when considering Indigenous knowledges and mathematics ed-
ucation. Curricular initiatives in Canada attempt to acknowledge the importance of consid-
ering the relationship between Aboriginal perspectives and mathematics curricula. However,
the program documents cited in the Introduction of this article emphasize a tokenistic and
cultural approach as Aboriginal students are generalized with identified learning styles and
backgrounds. Suggestions to engage students in traditional activities such as basketry design
are offered. Aboriginal perspectives are linked to perspectives of cultural diversity and mul-
ticultural education. Battiste (2002) stated that such broad statements promote colonization
as Aboriginal education becomes assimilative or racially defined and do not acknowledge the
pedagogical uniqueness of each individual. Moreover, multicultural perspectives do not ac-
knowledge or respect the uniqueness of Aboriginal and treaty rights in this land we now call
Canada.
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In this study, Bryony focused on the relationship of Blackfoot people to the place now
labeled southern Alberta. Though there exist other initiatives involving place-based mathematics
curricula for Aboriginal students, our lessons focused on learning from place within a particular
Blackfoot community. Learning in this specific context is necessarily unique and the results are
not meant to be generalized for all Aboriginal students. Multiple perspectives are essential and
this study contributes to one such perspective. However, perhaps what can be generalized is the
connection to place that all Indigenous peoples share and the notion of considering Indigenous
knowledges and mathematics curricula by emphasizing places of traditional and contemporary
significance.

CONCLUSION

In this setting, Bryony’s approaches suggest that teaching from an Aboriginal perspective can be
accomplished by focusing on the knowledges of the Blackfoot people. Because their knowledge
has accumulated over the millennia in one place, it is fair to suggest that Blackfoot knowledges
arose from their interaction with the land now labeled southern Alberta. Thus, one possible
approach for integrating Indigenous knowledges and mathematics curricula is through learning
mathematics from place. Learning from place recognizes the intimate relationship that Indigenous
people have with the land. Learning from place continues to be a valid and meaningful method
of interpreting and understanding the world, including mathematics.
If students relate mathematics to their place, then they will experience mathematics as relevant.
It was Bryony’s hope that students would develop a robust understanding of mathematics in school,
thereby increasing their likelihood of choosing mathematics studies and related careers that might
directly benefit the Aboriginal community in the current climate. I believe that this project played
a significant role in this process.
This research contributes to a deeper understanding of how Indigenous knowledges and
mathematics curricula can be considered. I believe that curricular initiatives in Canada largely
ignore the necessity and desirability of prompting an understanding of Aboriginal worldviews
when considering how to approach this complex endeavor. In this study, learning mathematics
from place prompted a consideration of Indigenous and Western worldviews. Learning from place
seems to be a generative approach when considering Indigenous knowledges and mathematics
curricula.
 INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGES AND MATHEMATICS CURRICULUM 31

NOTE

1. According to Bryony, the Iniskim are not sacred or spiritual until they have been blessed
by someone who has the right to do that. If you just find them, they do not have any
spiritual significance until they have gone through a specific ceremony that has been
given to someone.

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