Cultural diversity: how can it increases the complexity of teaching mathematics in multicultural class? The case of Chinese students

The paper, examining the increasing presence of different culture students in Italy, discusses the didactical problematic of multiculturalism at School. In particular a possible “comparison” between East (China, Korea and Japan) and West mathematical epistemology is presented through a historical and linguistic cultural approaches. Some evidences of analogies and differences between the cognitive styles of Chinese and Italian learners in mathematics are presented as examples to show the complexity of teaching/learning mathematics in multicultural classroom