Effect of Ethnomathematics Approach on Senior High School Students’ Achievement in Geometry

Abstract

This study investigated how ethnomathematics approach influences senior high school students’ achievement in geometry. Ethnomathematics approach in this study is conceptualized as a culturally anchored, cognitively scaffolded, historically and socially mediated framework for teaching geometry. Bishop's concept of mathematical enculturation and the sociocultural theory of learning served as the study's foundations. Explanatory sequential mixed approaches were employed in the investigation. This study also employed a quasi-experimental pretest-posttest control group design. We employed a multistage sampling technique to select 140 General Art mathematics teachers and 422 General Arts students from 18 Senior High schools (SHS) to participate in the study. The Geometry Achievement Test (GAT) was used to collect data from the students, while a semi-structured interview guide was used to collect data from both mathematics teachers and students. We analysed the quantitative data using both descriptive and inferential statistics. We used thematic content analysis followed by a narrative discussion to analyse the qualitative data. The study demonstrated that teachers' ethnomathematics approach has a major impact on how they teach geometry. The Ministry of Education should give teachers professional development opportunities to strengthen their knowledge of ethnomathematics approaches and their implications for teaching and learning.