This paper details the development and evaluation of software that allows middle school students to explore the mathematical aspects of Ghanaian Adinkra symbols. We tested the effectiveness of this simulation in a Ghanaian junior high school by conducting a randomized quasi-experiment. We begin this paper by framing culturally responsive math […]
2015 • Adinkra • CSDT • design • education • ethnomathematics • Ghana • mathematics • situated • software • youthLocally Situated Digital Representation of Indigenous Knowledge: Co-constructing a new digital reality in rural Africa
Digital re-presentation of indigenous knowledge remains an absurdity as long as we fail to deconstruct the prevalent design paradigm and techniques continuously re-framing technology within a western epistemology. This paper discusses key challenges in attempts of co-constructing a digital representation based on experiences from a longitudinal community-centred research project in […]
2012 • Africa • design • digital • indigenous / traditional knowledge • representation • situated • western valuesCulturally Situated Design Tools: Ethnocomputing from Field Site to Classroom
Abstract Ethnomathematics is the study of mathematical ideas and practices situated in their cultural context. Culturally Situated Design Tools (CSDTs) are web-based software applications that allow students to create simulations of cultural arts—Native American beadwork, African American cornrow hairstyles, urban graffiti, and so forth—using these underlying mathematical principles. This article is […]
2006 • CSDT • design • education • ethnocomputing • ethnomathematics • identity • indigenous / traditional knowledge • mathematics • situated • youthCulturally Situated Design Tools
While solutions to the “digital divide” are often imagined as a one-way bridge, there are a variety of ways in which we can create a two-way bridge alternative. Culturally Situated Design Tools (CSDTs) use information technology to “translate” from local knowledge and low-tech practice, to high-tech domains such as math, […]
CSDT • culture • design • digital divide • education • ethnomathematics • mathematics • research • situated • youth