Buginese Ethnomathematics: Barongko Cake Explorations as Mathematics Learning Resources

Abstract

Mathematics is still viewed as a culture-free subject. This forms a negative perception for students on mathematics. Most students assume that mathematics and culture are not related. This may occur because mathematics taught in school is not contextual and far from the reality of everyday life. Historically, mathematics has become a part of everyday life. As a maritime nation, Indonesia has a diverse culture. But many teachers are not yet aware of the integration of the culture into mathematics learning. Barongko cake is one of the Buginese cultural heritages. Buginese people have unconsciously been practicing mathematics in making these cakes. Therefore, this research aims to explore activities in making Barongko cakes in the Buginese community that involves mathematical concepts. This research is a qualitative descriptive with an ethnographic approach. The data collection methods are carried out through observation, documentation, interview with an expert in making Barongko cake. This research found that Barongko making process involves mathematics in the concept of division, congruence, and similarity, as well as a triangular prism, and half sphere. This cake has the potential to be used as a source of contextual mathematics learning in schools.

Ethnomathematics: Modelling the volume of solid of revolution at Buginese and Makassarese traditional foods

“…Huda's research (2018) has also explored various shapes of traditional market snacks in Yogyakarta. The additional finding is also provided by Pathuddin et al (2021) focusing on the basic concepts of flat and space figures in the process of making barongko. Their result found that the process of making barongko cakes generates divisions, congruences, and similarities concept (Pathuddin et al, 2021).…”

“…Through contextual learning, students acquire a learning process involving cultural attributes. It can provide a comprehensive understanding for students (Pathuddin et al, 2021). Based on this research, exercises and problems can be developed as contextual learning for college students by using Buginese local food as a medium and GeoGebra as a tool.…”

“…In the study, various mathematical elements, such as types of plane and space geometry, were explored in the shape of traditional snacks. Another exploration has also been found in traditional Buginese foods demonstrating that some kinds of them can be applied as contextual learning resources for students at elementary and secondary school levels (Pathuddin et al, 2021).…”

“…Prior studies have uncovered that mathematical concepts are based on local attributes and can be used as a source of learning in elementary and secondary schools (Herawaty et al, 2018;Nur, Waluya, Rochmad, & Wardono, 2020;Pathuddin, Kamariah, & Nawawi, 2021). The implementation of ethnomathematics-based contextual learning can improve students' cognitive levels (Nur et al, 2020).…”

Ethnomathematics: Traveling Trade on The Musi River

“…According to Arisetyawan [2], the culture that exists in the environment of students has not been widely associated with the learning process. This culture can be seen in the mathematics learning that is learned at school is different from students' daily lives [3], [4]. So far, educators have not taken advantage of the student's environmental culture as a starting point for learning mathematics [5], [6].…”