Artefacts for learning

I am fascinated with Aboriginal ways of knowing, doing and being and want to continue to learn more about how I can saturate my pedagogical approach with these both overtly and more subtly.  The idea of adding artefacts to the environment is one way to achieve this but as I read and researched further I discovered there is a lot more to the notion of artefacts than I had realised.

Anthony and Walshaw argue that “in mathematics education, artefacts offer ‘thinking spaces’—they are tools that help to organise mathematical thinking.”

Artefacts according to Anthony and Walshaw can be almost anything from children's work, graphs, models metaphors mathematical symbols and equations and even the number system to examples, stories, illustrations, textbooks, rulers, clocks, calendars, technology, and problem contexts. 

I had never thought of these as artefacts!

But they do offer Thinking Space. 

Anthony and Walshaw add that educators support children's connections to “concepts embodied in the artefacts used” by carefully and purposefully “…select[ing] and construct[ing] artefacts that their students can relate to’

They go further and state that “Embracing culturally contextualised pedagogy is not, however, simply a matter of incorporating ethnic symbols and artefacts into tasks.” Deeper consideration must be given to the cultural context, children's, and communities understanding and the educators own cultural competence.

Describing a Canadian experience that has many parallels to Australian Aboriginal First Nations peoples the impact of colonisation has been devastating.  The article argues strongly for decolonising education that redresses the past and seeks to pave a future that values and honours Aboriginal perspectives.  Munroe et al  “…believe the teaching of decontextualized mathematics and literacy skills does not align with an Indigenous worldview which is holistic and interconnected,” and that  “…students who learn numeracy and literacy skills in a decontextualized way will develop the critical thinking “ needed to make decisions in a complex world.

Battiste (2002) in Munroe etal explains the significance of indigenous knowledges in this way:

“Indigenous knowledge comprises the complex set of technologies developed and sustained by Indigenous civilizations. Often oral and symbolic, it is transmitted through the structure of Indigenous languages and passed on to the next generation through modeling, practice, and animation, rather than through the written word.… Indigenous knowledge is typically embedded in the cumulative experiences and teachings of Indigenous peoples rather than in a library. (p. 2)” I would also argue that the knowledge is also passed on through dance, ceremony, land, seasons, art, and artefacts. 

Anthony, G. & Walshaw, M. (2007a). Mathematics teaching for diverse learners utilises tools as learning supports in Pedagogy in Mathematics/Pangarau.

Wellington: Ministry of Education. P126-140

140http://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/publications/series/2515/5951

MUNROE, E.A., BORDEN, L.L., ORR, A.M., TONEY, D. and MEADER, J., 2013. DECOLONIZING ABORIGINAL EDUCATION IN THE 21ST CENTURY. McGill Journal of Education (Online), 48(2), pp. 317-337.