Embodied Mathematics and the Marshall Islands

 

The most interesting part of his article is the creation of the stick charts as mattang that was used to explicate the principles of swell and land interaction. From my perspective, Marshallese mattgang, which is a simplification of a real-world system, visualizes refraction, reflection and diffraction of swells through geometrical ideas including perpendicular bisector, intersection, arc and so on. Marshallese wisdom is not only reflected in modeling the swell phenomenon with a certain purpose in mind, selectively eliminating some microscopial factors that have limited impact on the system, but also reflected in their teaching philosophy which emphasizes visual and kinesthetic information while training navigators - “in fact, one navigator recounted that an early part of his training was being made to float in the water at various places in order to learn how to feel what would later be shown and explained to him.”


Embodied mathematics is significant in the history of mathematics because it might be one of the driving forces to facilitate people’s abstract thinking in mathematics. Embodied mathematics might also be one of the factors that leads to the diversity of the history of mathematics. For example, due to the geographical feature of the Marshall Islands, the Marshallese navigators use swell interactions to build their geometric model, while people from other regions build their bearing system upon compass and rulers.


The idea of embodied mathematics can also be incorporated into secondary mathematics teaching and learning. Land-based learning or experiential learning could be a good platform to reproduce and manifest the process of embodied mathematics. Like what Marshallese did when they trained their navigators, we can also ask our students to stand up and use their bodies to express a unique line in a 2D or 3D space when we are teaching them slope or vectors. We can also take them out of the classroom and ask them to discover the mathematical patterns in the natural environment.




Reference

Ascher, Marcia. Models and Maps from the Marshall Islands: A Case in Ethnomathematics. Ithaca College, Ithaca, New York. Ascher Marshall Islands stick charts.pdf - Google Drive

Comments

  1. Amanda FritzlanDecember 19, 2022 at 4:35 PM

    I appreciate your ideas about role of geographies in mathematical development. I like your ideas about taking mathematics outside of the school, and of using body movements for slope and vector expression. Am I correct that you are doing your practicum in North Vancouver? The geography there could inspire some interesting embodied mathematics.

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