A Semiotic Framework for Linking Cultural Practice and Classroom Mathematics.

With the increasing recognition that connections are an important component in the pedagogy of school mathematics (National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, 1989), there is a need for a theoretical framework that addresses the ways in which the real experiences and cultural practices of students may be connected with mathematics classroom pedagogy. In this paper, the objective is to construct such a theoretical framework, drawing on literature from semiotics and ethnomathematics. Examples and evidence that suggest the efficacy of this framework in connecting school mathematics and mathematical ideas constructed from cultural practice are drawn from the literature and from data collected in a research project in a multicultural high school mathematics class. Seven high school students from African American, Caucasian, Asian American, and Hispanic American cultural backgrounds described their lives and cultural heritages as bases for the development of culturally responsive mathematics curricula. (Contains 1 figure and 12 references.) (SLD)