If you know of teaching materials or other information about mathematics related to Pacific cultural activities such as those listed below, please send details to Nancy Lane, PREL, 1099 Alakea Street, 25th Floor, Honolulu, HI 96813, or email lanen@prel.org. We will make arrangements to add such resources to the EDL.

Agriculture
Architecture and building
Astronomy
Basketry and beading
Canoes and sailing vessels
Chanting and singing
Dance
Decorative arts
Design of household items
Toys and games, including
games of chance
Kinship relationships
Land ownership
Medicine and healing
Music and musical instruments
Navigation
Planning (related to
archaeological sites)
Religious practices
Roads, bridges, canals, and other civil engineering works
Sewing, quilting, and weaving
Sports (including scoring)
Tattooing, body painting,
and body adornment
Taxation
Trade and barter

What do a repeating star pattern on a woven mat, the game of tic-tac-toe, a counting system based on parts of the body, and a knotted cord used for record-keeping have in common? The answer is that they are all examples of ethnomathematics, and they can all be used as classroom activities to help students appreciate mathematics in their own cultures and in cultures worldwide.

To support the inclusion of ethnomathematics in teaching, PREL is developing the Ethnomathematics Digital Library (EDL) website at www.ethnomath.org. It provides information, research, and teaching materials about ethnomathematics.

A basic premise of ethnomathematics is that concepts such as counting, measuring, and calculating develop in response to cultural activities. In the Pacific region, such cultural activities might include those listed in the table at left. Research has shown that when mathematics is taught solely from a Western European perspective, it often makes no sense to ethnically diverse children. To have meaning, the mathematics must be imbedded in their cultural understanding.

During the 2002-2003 school year, a Pacific Educator in Residence will work with PREL staff to develop ethnomathematics curriculum materials. The goal is to enable Pacific children to increase their knowledge of mathematics by applying it to cultural activities that they recognize and understand.

The EDL website is part of a national science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education digital library developed by the National Science Foundation.