For me, in school I was constantly struggling with understanding mathematics. I think this stemmed from having trouble memorizing all of the rules and properties of math (ex: BEDMAS). With my own struggles in math, I can definitely understand and relate why math may have been oppressive to some of my peers growing up. For starters, the ways of teaching math when I was in school was usually taught in a “traditional” format with the teacher at the front lecturing and then pen and paper assignments, followed by some form of a quiz or test after (product-based teaching). This type of teaching and learning has proven to be ineffective for some learners. It does not support hands on experiences or self-expression for alternate learning styles of students. For example, when I was in school we followed our text book to a T, and were expected after every lesson to do the assignment in the book that connected with what we were just taught. However, the problem with this is that there was not a lot of room to interpret the questions, and all the answers had to look the same and be solved the same, very systematically. In addition to this, many different cultures have different mathematical systems and ways of learning math. To have this expectation for all students to do math the same way, because it appears to be the “right way” limits the learning ability of students. Another problem by teaching math in this fashion, presents significant obstacles because of the amount of instruction related to the use of language. Many students who struggle with reading/or with their understanding of English may struggle significantly. This language base approach, enhances the struggles with deciphering math problems due to the amount of the wording and language used. Math needs to evolve more into a modernized, inclusive teaching approach for our students and this cannot happen unless we change the approach on how math is being taught. 

In the article Teaching mathematics and the Inuit community, it talks about how Inuit ways of teaching math focuses the learning using a hands-on approach, and allows for learning that can be used in everyday life. For example, in the Inuit culture, measurements can be carried out by parts of the body such by using their hands and feet. This is very effective especially in everyday life where rulers are not always around. Another well-established common technique the Inuit people use, is creating their calendar around nature and what is occurring in that month. This is very effective and allows for students to see and understand more about what is happening around them. In addition to this the Inuit people have a great knowledge of space by becoming familiar with the land they are able to use techniques such as reading snow banks, assessing wind and building Inukshuks. Dr. Gale Russell also talked about Indigenous math relationships and the Inuit people’s way of math specifically. She explained the importance relationships, and personal experiences play in math from an Indigenous perspective. For example, Inuit people have a number system in base 20, because they count with their hands and toes giving a total of 20. Inuit people have a wonderful realistic way of doing math and this type of math would be very beneficial to be incorporated into classrooms. It uses common ways of using math in your community/environment, not focusing solely on the tradition pen and paper math. This way of learning moves towards a more hands on approach of math as a learning experience.