Du dessin sur le sable du Vanuatu à Scratch : l’enseignement de la pensée informatique entre approche ethnomathématique et écologique

Resumo

This article analyzes an experiment conducted since 2020 in seventh-grade classes at a middle school in New Caledonia, aimed at using the Vanuatu cultural artifact “Vanuatu sand drawing” (SD) in the teaching of algorithmic thinking. Drawing on prior ethnographic fieldwork, a mathematical model of the SD enables the transposition of a specific drawing from the Raga area (northern Pentecost Island) into the Scratch block-based programming environment. The experiment suggests increased engagement among Oceanian students experiencing school disengagement, a finding that invites closer examination of the theoretical contributions of ethnomathematics to the teaching of computational thinking. First, the article highlights the experience of epistemological alterity prompted by the centrality of the cycle in Raga culture. This experience brings to light a dynamic property of the circle that the static Euclidean approach tends to obscure. Second, while the semiotic registers framework proves fruitful for analyzing learners’ geometric activity, it tends to obscure the cultural dimension of the signs it mobilizes – and with it, the risk that this dimension may be lost in the process of didactic transposition. The article proposes to complement semiotic analysis with a cultural and ecological approach drawing on the concept of affordances. We show that in Scratch, certain affordances disappear while others emerge – instrumental and procedural, but also identity-related, epistemological, and narrative. We examine the extent to which these affordances, unevenly distributed according to students’ cultural situatedness, constitute favorable conditions for the development of computational thinking competencies. To fully exploit the richness of cultural artifacts without lapsing into their reification, we advocate for renewed teacher training in ethnomathematics, fostering culturally inclusive and ethically responsible teaching practices.

Dados da obra

Tipo

Artigo

Periódico

Contextes et Didactiques, v. 27

Editora

Presses Universitaires des Antilles

Ano

2026 (2026-06)

Idioma

en

Palavras-chave

ethnomathematics; sand drawing; Vanuatu; cultural semiotic; mathematical alterity; computational thinking

Temas

Etnomatemática, Formação de Professores de Matemática, Geometria, Pensamento Computacional, Práticas Pedagógicas

DOI

10.4000/16fkt

ISSN

2551-6116

Acesso

Acesso aberto

Fontes

DOAJ — Directory of Open Access Journals

Na Biblioteca desde

01/10/2026 · verificada em 03/10/2026