Neutralizing the Uncanny through Culturally Relevant Teaching

At the height of the Roman Empire’s power, Marcus Aurelius, emperor and stoic philosopher, identified his positionality as neither Athenian nor Roman but rather as “a citizen of the universe.” For a man of his time, power and privilege to have been able to think beyond himself, in terms of the global rather than the local, suggests that he had benefited immensely from the guidance and wisdom of teachers, who through culturally relevant instruction imparted an awareness and holistic appreciation of the value of all of humankind. As one observes the multitude of current global conflicts, one questions why humanity has not been able to move beyond petty grievances to achieve the equitable global harmony and citizenship that Aurelius aspired to so long ago. Motivated by the purpose of improving academic, economic, and social equity, this exploratory essay examines historic and current North American pedagogical theories of culturally responsive teaching practices with the juxtapositional purpose of examining and evaluating the best method for minimizing Drs. Ernst Jentsch and Sigmund Freud’s theories on the uncanny and the uncanny valley-effect phenomena-the objective being the discovery of improved teaching praxis to minimize educational and social cognitive dissonance in refugee, immigrant, minority, and socioeconomically subordinate students both domestically and internationally.

Mathematics Instruction Developed from a Garden Theme

Can rigorous mathematics be developed from everyday experiences?” This question brought together an intermediategrades teacher and a university researcher to collaborate on a project that incorporated students' and families' knowledge and experiences. The importance of designing culturally relevant instruction is well documented (Lipka, Mohatt, and the Ciulistet Group 1998; Zaslavsky 1996, 1997). (For more general information, see also the newsletter from the International Study Group on Ethnomathematics.) For us, culturally relevant instruction refers to instruction that links home and school by building on experiences shared by most students in the class. It includes creating a learning environment that captures the flavor of the apprenticeship style that often characterizes how children acquire knowledge outside of school, alongside their family members. The teacher, Leslie Khan, had developed a relationship with many of her students' families and knew that gardening was a commonly shared family activity. We developed a garden theme to explore the interplay between everyday knowledge and school mathematics.