Effect and interconnections of ghanaian ethnomathematics activities to the teaching and learning of school mathematics

Abstract

This study sought to investigate the effect and interconnections of basic Akan ethnomathematics activities that can support the teaching and learning school mathematics. The Ethnomathematics approach was demonstrated practically in a formal school stream to further investigate its interconnection with school mathematics, its effect on students „interest and perception of its integration in the teaching and learning process. The study adopted an explorative mixed research approach where both qualitative and quantitative methods were applied. The purposive and convenience sampling techniques were used to select 112 teachers from Techiman West and North Districts of the Bono-East region of Ghana with two adopted classes at Techiman Senior High School. The instruments used to collect data were observation, questionnaire guide, and interview guide and test scores for the analyses. A quasiexperiment design was employed. Content analyses, field exploration and statistical analyses using descriptive and inferential tests were done. Findings revealed that Akan communities had a lot of basic ethnomathematics, and their ethno-technological applications existed in various forms. This Basic ethnomathematics existed in the form of artefacts that could serve as resource-base in the teaching and learning of school mathematics. The ethnomathematics approach in teaching school mathematics was tested to have significant effect on student's academic achievement in the teaching and learning process, as reflected in the mean test difference of students' observed scores under t-test statistics. Though challenges and problems existed in making the interconnection of ethnomathematics to school mathematics, students and teachers perceived ethnomathematics integration in the formal teaching of school mathematics as useful. The integration of Akan ethnomathematics was seen to have significant motivation in building student interest in mathematics lessons. It was recommended that ethnomathematics application as a resource base and contextual applications be encouraged in the formal school mathematics lesson integration in the curriculum implementation process.