Ethnomathematics-Based Deep Learning Model in Enhancing Numeracy Literacy and Integrity Character among Prospective Elementary School Teacher Education Students
Abstract
Preparing prospective elementary teachers requires mathematics learning that develops conceptual understanding alongside numeracy literacy and professional integrity. Although ethnomathematics and deep learning have been widely investigated independently, limited empirical evidence explains the pedagogical mechanisms through which culturally grounded learning integrates these dimensions within mathematics teacher education. This study explored how ethnomathematics-based deep learning functioned as a culturally situated pedagogical process in an Elementary School Teacher Education Program. A qualitative interpretive single-case study was conducted in one Elementary Mathematics Education course at Universitas Mandiri Subang, Indonesia. Fourteen participants, comprising one lecturer, twelve prospective elementary teachers, and one head of programme, were selected through purposive sampling. Data were collected through classroom observations, semi-structured interviews, and document analysis and analysed using an interactive hybrid deductive–inductive coding approach. The findings revealed an interconnected pedagogical mechanism in which cultural contextualisation initiated mathematical meaning construction through reflection, inquiry, mathematical representation, and collaborative dialogue. Within this process, cultural experiences served as epistemic resources for interpreting quantitative relationships before formal mathematical abstraction. Simultaneously, numeracy literacy and professional integrity developed through contextual reasoning, evidence-based justification, critical evaluation, and collaborative learning. The study contributes an empirically grounded explanation of the pedagogical mechanism linking cultural contextualisation, mathematical meaning construction, numeracy literacy, and professional integrity, extending current understandings of ethnomathematics-based deep learning in mathematics teacher education.
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