HomeMy WebLinkAboutMath Catcher helps Indigenous high school students by using storytelling, traditions and culture - Globe & Mail - 06/24/2018 - Globe & Mail - 06/24/20186/25/2018 Math Catcher helps Indigenous high school students by using storytelling, traditions and culture - The Globe and Mail
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Math Catcher helps Indigenous high school students by
using storytelling, traditions and culture
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Reinelda Sankey, who grew up in the small northern B.C. community of Lax
Kw'alaams, struggled in math. She barely passed the Grade 11 course on a second try
and did not pursue the subject in Grade 12. It was a difficult decision: Math is a
compulsory entrance prerequisite for several university programs.
"It was really frustrating and I felt doubtful of my abilities as a student and what I
thought I was capable of," Ms. Sankey said. "I wasn't sure what I was going to do
next."
Her struggles in math are shared widely, but especially among Indigenous students.
One 2012 report showed that only two per cent of B.C.'s aboriginal population
completed Grade 12 mathematics, compared to 25 per cent of the province's whole
population — a statistic that is not dissimilar in other parts of the country.
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6/25/2018 Math Catcher helps Indigenous high school students by using storytelling, traditions and culture - The Globe and Mail
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The outreach program that helped Ms. Sankey succeed is called Math Catcher, the
brainchild of SFU math professor Veselin jungic. It infuses Indigenous storytelling,
traditions and culture into mathematics lessons.
Mr. jungic said he was inspired after a workshop with Indigenous leaders in Banff
and established the program in 2011. Since then, he and his team have created a
range of learning resources to help Indigenous students succeed in math — for
example, they've produced animated films with mathematical themes that teach
elementary students pattern recognition and counting. They visit schools and run
workshops in communities across B.C. and Alberta.
Mr. jungic said there's a mathematical presence in various Indigenous traditions,
from weaving patterns in baskets to strategies of the salmon harvest. Even in a
carved mask, students can learn about symmetry — a way that connects culture and
mathematical concepts.
"It is not a question of a lack of talent or a lack of interest for mathematics and
science among aboriginal students. It is rather how do we reach out to those people
who come from those rural, small communities ... how do we reach out to those
people to really explore and develop their talent?" he asked.
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6/25/2018 Math Catcher helps Indigenous high school students by using storytelling, traditions and culture - The Globe and Mail
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"My experience with Indigenous storytellers taught me that if I want to
communicate mathematics to a non -mathematician, it's better if I tell a story," Mr.
Jungic added. "It works like magic. You see students getting engaged and enjoying
themselves."
Mr. Jungic understands that change takes time. Figures from B.C.'s Ministry of
Education showed that only about 10 per cent of Indigenous Grade 12 students
enrolled in a precalculus math course, compared with 42 per cent of non -Indigenous
students. Students who take this course are generally bound for postsecondary
studies in math, science and engineering.
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6/25/2018 Math Catcher helps Indigenous high school students by using storytelling, traditions and culture - The Globe and Mail
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12 math credit. She enrolled in a university preparation program at SFU for
Indigenous students. That's where she worked with Mr. jungic, who taught her
different ways to understanding math concepts — the focus of the Math Catcher
program.
She passed her math course with top marks.
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"It was just having somebody in my corner, somebody who told me I was capable of
doing it and somebody that was willing to take the time and sit with me through
problems and help me figure it out myself," said Ms. Sankey, 23.
She has taken her new way of learning math into other communities, including her
own near Prince Rupert.
Ms. Sankey ran math workshops earlier this year in her community of Lax
Kw'alaams with students from kindergarten to Grade 12 and shared her own
experiences with learning the subject.
"Every one of us at one point or another has struggled with math, has struggled with
school, has struggled with thinking, `are we capable of doing this?"' she said. "I was
trying to help others in the community to see that they can do it, too."
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6/25/2018 Math Catcher helps Indigenous high school students by using storytelling, traditions and culture - The Globe and Mail
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6/25/2018 Math Catcher helps Indigenous high school students by using storytelling, traditions and culture - The Globe and Mail
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