Te reo o te au tauira o te Moana Nui a Kiva: The voice of our Pasifika students in mathematics education

The research team

 

This is a transdisciplinary project.

PI: Associate Professor Sina Greenwood (Mathematics , FoS)
s.greenwood@auckland.ac.nz

Pacific co-lead: Dr Jacoba Matapo (Critical Studies in Education, EDSW)
j.matapo@auckland.ac.nz

AIs:
Professor Fiona Ell (Curriculum and Pedagogy, EDSW, FoS)
f.ell@auckland.ac.nz

Igor’ Kontorovich (Mathematics Education)
i.kontorovich@auckland.ac.nz

Research assistants: Ana Manavahetau, Nadeen Papalii, Raewyn Soakai and Lisiua Havili

 

The research

 

This research project aims to understand the experiences of senior secondary students, who identify as Pacific, in learning secondary mathematics by engaging them in talanoa. We are interested in learning about how Pacific students think mathematics teaching could be changed to better meet student aspirations, culture and values. The specific research questions are:

    • What do Pacific students experience and value in senior secondary school mathematics classrooms?
    • How do they view their relationships with mathematics, have the relationships changed over time, and if so what influenced these changes?
    • How they would change school mathematics teaching for it to work better for them?

 

Future directions

 

We plan to expand the research research team to include students at all levels including university, and we will look at science in general. Our long term goals are to recommend a sustainable strategy for Pacific engagement and success in science at all levels, and to develop engaging resources for science education in schools, that incorporate Pacific pedagogy.

We hope to include FoS Pacific students at all level from stage 1 through to PhD students, working and learning as a team. If you are interested being part of this, or know someone who might be, please get in touch with one of the team.