Impact of Globalization and Innovation on Pedagogies in Mathematics Classrooms

Background

Globalization may be termed as the coming together of world economies, politics and cultures (Volle, 2023). Theodore Levitt, a German- born American Economist is credited with the term globalization. In 1873, he wrote an article titled, “Globalization of the Markets” (Levitt, 1983). The concept was widespread in 19^th Century with the advent of Industrial revolution. This has been escalated with innovation of modern technologies in the communication and transportation as well as adoption of liberal trade policies by counties in the world. The concept may be viewed as “removal of territories-geographical boundaries-the world being seen as a global village. The social activities which could be political, economic or cultural takes place in disregard of geographical location; meaning that people worldwide can connect and share experiences and information without being physically present in the same location or time. Modern technologies have enabled people to connect worldwide enhancing interconnections and interdependence of countries in the world.

Today, two vectors shape the world-globalization and technology (Levit,2008). The former control the economies, politics and cultures and the latter dictate how fast they happen or spread or shared within the global space. These two vectors have had impact on all sectors of the economy; education being one. Mathematics education being a discipline which borrows from a variety of disciplines such as psychology, sociology, philosophy, history, semiotics, cognitive science, post-modernism has not been spared. Technology is one of the drivers of modern innovations. Technologically driven innovations have changed the nature of teaching and learning in Mathematics classrooms (BECTA, 2023). New pedagogies have emerged; new mathematical concepts have been developed; new ways of solving global problems using mathematical models have emerged; efficient ways of sharing mathematical knowledge in communities of practice have been created; assessment techniques have been revolutionised. Innovations in mathematics educations as result of globalization and technology are endless.

A fundamental question then is, “What are the pre-existing problems in mathematics education that have called for the mathematics educators to embrace technology as a driver of improving and globalizing mathematics education”?. The importance of mathematics cannot be overemphasized. Mathematics is applied in everyday life activities, in the workplace, in the industry, as tool for other subjects, for further education and training, and in research. However, students’ achievement in mathematics has been low (Kihwele & Mkomwa, 2023). Mathematics is an abstract subject and most teachers approach the teaching using traditional methods (Sandhu & Grover, 2017). This has resulted in students losing interest and as a result low performance. In addition, tradition methods of ‘talk and Chalk’ and ‘drill and skills’ does not afford the learners opportunities for acquisition of higher order skills like critical and analytical thinking, problem-solving, logical reasoning and decision making. The resultant is learners with instrumental rather than relational understanding. In response to this, mathematics educators have come up with innovations mostly driven by technology to bridge the gaps. In addition, in this era of information sharing and collaborations, mathematics educators share their innovations. The twin vectors of globalization and technologically-driven innovations have had an impact on the pedagogies in mathematics education. This chapter dissects the impact of innovations and globalization on pedagogies in Mathematics classrooms.