REVISITING THE THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS OF ETHNOMODELLING

Abstract

By including mathematical activities from outside of the school environment, the process of modelling shows us that mathematics is more than the manipulation of mathematical symbols, procedures, and practices. The application of ethnomathematical techniques along with the tools of modelling allows us to see a holistic reality to mathematics. From this perspective, one pedagogical approach that connects the cultural features of mathematics with its school/academic aspects is named ethnomodelling, which is a process of translation and elaboration of problems and questions taken from systems that are part of the reality of the members of any cultural group. In this article we offer an alternative goal for educational research, which is the acquisition of both emic (local) and etic (global) approaches for the implementation of ethnomodelling in the classrooms. We also discuss a third approach on ethnomodelling, which is the dialogical (glocal) approach, which combines both emic and etic approach bases. Finally, we define ethnomodelling as the study of mathematical phenomena within a culture because it is a social construct and is culturally bound, which adds the cultural characteristics of mathematics into the modelling process.