Miriam Moramay Micalco Méndez
E-mail: mmicalco@gmail.com
I am a PhD student on educational sciences in the Educational Research Division of the Research Centre and advanced studies of Politecnical Institute National in Mexico City (DIE del CINVESTAV del IPN). My supervisor is Antonia Candela, PhD.
I have resources for the PhD Dissertation of the CONACYT (National Council of Science and Technology). This is a Federal Institution which gave me a monthly support in order to hold my PhD dissertation. Actually, my PhD research is in the end of the analysis and I am writing the first and second chapters. I finished the fieldwork last year. The principal topic of my PhD dissertation is the vigesimal numerical system in the communities practices of the mayan culture. I want to know the mathematics knowledge outside the school because the young people have many problems to learn the decimal numerical system in the school. I watched they learn the numbers and aritmethical functions at home and in the field with their parents and grand parents. So, when the childs arrived to the school, they have a particular mathematics knowledge in their mother language: maya tseltal and in the vigesimal numerical system.
The ethnographic theory hold my dissertation. This theory give me the references in order to register the daily life in the mayan communities and to analysis the information I registeres by the participant observation and diverses interviews with young people, women, adults and elders. I hope this dissertation help to the different educative projects to make new strategies to improve the learnings mathematics in the school.
I want to assist to the Summer School because I think is very important to discuss with speakers who provides of different cultures. I want to learn with other colleagues in order to continue a reflection about the topic of my dissertation. I want to know the methodology that my colleagues do your own research. I hope meeting people who do the same kind of work but in the different culture. I believe that each culture have your own vision of the life and each person have a lot of knowledge to reach others.
I have participated in other international meetings in Barcelona and Paris. I do my studies of master degree in Barcelona. I have many colleagues of different nationalities and countries: Brazil, Chile, Argentine, Spain, Colombie. I know many people of other nationalities too. I am sure that the international meetings are a very special events in order to built other kind of societies in our countries because when I realize that exist another cultures with another thinkings, I have an opportunity of see the world otherwise, and that is the very important experience to built my research of a more integral way. I want to discuss the methodology aspects and the relation culture-knowledge in the education.