Benally, J. (2024). Co-constructing N´ahookos Bi’ka’ constellation with STARR [Demo].

In E. M. Bonsignore & M. Horton (Eds.), ”Inclusive Happiness” – Proceedings of the 23rd Annual ACM Interaction Design and Children Conference, Delft, Netherlands. Association for Computing Machinery, ACM, New York, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.1145/3628516.3661161

ABSTRACT: This demo presents STARR—Students Tracking Angular Rotation Recorder—as a means for students to learn about angles. STARR combines hand sensors and a tracking compass to guide students through an embodied angle value experience. In an effort to revitalize land-based ethnomathematical practices, this demo, framed around Diné cosmology, engages students in a novel astronomical experience where they become immersed in angle creation and measurement. Participants will be 4th & 5th grade (9-12 years) students paired either with a peer or with an intergenerational family member. Working in a simulated planetarium, participants will collaboratively “voyage” along constellations, so as to occasion communications about angles from complementary perceptual perspectives (the first-person “Sensor” and their third-person “Navigator”). STARR investigates the discursive co-construction of situated mathematics to evaluate whether and how students are grounding Euclidean geometry in Diné astronomical knowledge. This tangible cultural interface explores the resonance between Indigenous historical practices and modern pedagogical principles of progressive education focused on situated actions, with potentially broad implications for mathematics education based on critical-pedagogy restorative-justice values.

Click here to read the publication.