MATHEMATICS IN THE GURUNG COMMUNITY: AN ETHNO-MATHEMATICAL STUDY

Abstract

This dissertation entitled "Mathematics in Gurung Community" is an ethnographic study. The purpose of this research was to explore mathematical practices of Gurung community and incorporating these practices in the primary level of our formal education. Through this study I tried to find out the answer of two research questions and they are: "What are the mathematical practices of Gurung Community?" and "How can we integrate or incorporate these practices in the primary level of formal educational system?" To get the answer of my questions, I chose Ghandruk as my research field. I used observation and interview as my data collection tools and tried to capture the real practices of Gurung people to sort out mathematical practices. I found various mathematical practices in Gurung community, but due to time and other constraints, I focused on the mathematical practices related to number system, arithmetic operation, games, and way of making rectangle and so on. I tried to see how these practices are incorporated in the primary level of formal curriculum. I also tried to present possible ways to incorporate them in teaching. Based on the literature which I reviewed during the whole period of research, I tried to reflect my own perspective towards ethno-mathematics and ethno-mathematical curriculum. The glimpse of my perspective is just a step toward searching contextual mathematics.