In recognition of the responsibility to make mathematics education more relational, land-based, and connected to diverse ways of knowing, we launched Re-imagining Mathematics Education, a four-part series inviting educators to rethink how math is taught, learned, and experienced.
Sessions included:
- Teaching and learning mathematics through place/land
- Exploring how Indigenous storywork can guide mathematics education for respectful and relational engagement in community
- Developing approaches and contexts for learning mathematics to read (understand) and write (transform) the world
- Exploring possibilities for emerging inquiries from participants such as culturally responsive mathematics assessment.
Session 1: Teaching and Learning Math through Place/Land
In this session, four educators shared how they root math in place and land. From urban schoolyards to cedar teachings on the Pacific West Coast and the tapping of maple trees across Canada, each story offered a unique window into experiencing math through place/land, community, story, and inquiry. Their journeys invited us to re-imagine our relationship with mathematics.
Participating teachers:
- Kammi Clark (SD44 North Vancouver)
- Charli-Rae Dougherty (SD28 Quesnel)
- Melody Watson (SD85 Vancouver Island North)
- Stephanie Maki (44 North Vancouver)
Session 2: Indigenous Storywork and Mathematics
In this second session, four educators shared how Indigenous stories invited students into mathematical thinking. Guided by Jo-Ann Archibald Q’um Q’um Xiiem’s Indigenous Storywork principles for becoming Storywork ready, they showed how reverence, respect, responsibility, and reciprocity shaped mathematics learning through land, story, and relationship.
Participating teachers included:
- Joanne Yovanovich (SD50 Haida Gwaii)
- Joy Fast (SD37 Delta)
- Jen Whiffin (SD43 Coquitlam)
- Sandra Fox (SD39 Vancouver)
- Leighann Rodger (SD50 Haida Gwaii)
- Cynthia Nicol (UBC), Jo-Ann Archibald (UBC)
- Janice Novakowski (SD38 & UBC).
Session 3: Teaching Mathematics for Social Justice
In this third session, teachers shared classroom examples from primary to secondary school levels of teaching mathematics for social justice. Topics included: Mathematics Education and the Truth and Reconciliation Council, Reading and Writing the Skeena Watershed with Mathematics, Social Justice Mathematics Talk through TikTok, Understanding Homelessness, and Kindergarten Students Investigate Accessibility.
Participating teachers included:
- Jessica Bella (SD 20 Kootenay-Columbia)
- Mahima Lamba (SD 37 Delta)
- Carol Bob (SD 82 Coast Mountain)
- Cassie Dusdal (Independent School)
- Debby Knoke (Career Education 8-12 – Independent school)
Session 4: Culturally Responsive Mathematics Assessment
In this final session, educators explored how to assess math learning in ways that are respectful, relational, and culturally grounded, honouring students’ identities, cultures, and communities. Building on the previous sessions of this series, this closing gathering invited us to rethink how we recognize learning and what we truly value in the process.
Participating teachers included:
- Carol Bob (SD 82 Coast Mountain)
- Joanne Yovanovich (SD50 Haida Gwaii)
- Cynthia Nicol (UBC)
- Jo-ann Archibald Q’um Q’um Xiiem (UBC)
- Janice Novakowski (SD 38 Richmond & UBC)