Patterns  with Beads

 

 

In the revised mathematics syllabus that has followed political changes in South Africa teachers are encouraged to draw on the culture of all south African people to enrich the teaching of Mathematics. RUMEP has been working with primary school teachers within their in-service programme to investigate  ways in which beadwork can be used as a resource in teaching geometry, and  number and relationships, two strands within the new syllabus.

RUMEP is the Rhodes University Mathematics Education Programme based in Grahamstown, South Africa
 
 

 

 


Beads were an important currency in southern Africa even before European colonisation. With the arrival of traders and missionaries in the 19th century their use became even more widespread. Imported glass beads produced in Venice specifically for the African market replaced the use of local materials.  Elaborate costumes, cloaks and necklaces were created and used in ceremonial, becoming a clear sign of status. Different styles and patterns were used by men and women, married and unmarried and small decorative pieces in some areas carried specific symbols which carried “messages” of love.

 

Today much bead work is aimed at the commercial craft market with, for example, adaptations of the AIDS awareness symbol being popular. The role of ceremonial bead work has faded but may be reviving under the influence of the present Minister of Sport who now wears splendid beadwork robes at official engagements.

 

 

The Structure of Beadwork

 

There are two different ways of sewing continuous beadwork patterns. Look at the two patterns on the left. One has a  rectilinear structure, the beads are arranged in rows and columns with each bead in a new row directly below the one above. This is used in many Ndebele patterns such as the detail shown here from a veil.

 

The other method in which beads are sewn so that each new row is offset from the one above creates a triangular or isometric pattern and leads to designs like the women shown here from a Zulu skirt.

 

 

 

 

In the activities that follow we have concentrated on investigating isometric or triangular bead work. The beads used are very small, usually 2mm across, and as they are cylindrical the beads almost tessellate in the finished designs and create what seem to be geometrical shapes, the most common being the triangle and the rhombus. Sometimes the triangles combine to fill the rhombus as in the beautiful armband shown here.

 

 

Here are some of the activities we have developed.

 

·       Copying and completing patterns

 

·       Copying bead work patterns onto grids

 

·       Looking for shapes

 

Beadwork and Number Patterns

 

·       Linear patterns

 

·       Quadratic Patterns

 

·       Researching patterns

 

Text Box: When we are looking at the mathematics that arises from traditional culture we hope that we are asserting the strength of that culture and exemplifying how all cultures contain mathematical idea within them. But when relating this to children’s learning there are tests that such material should be subjected to. 1. Is it good mathematics? 2. Does it provide activities which develop mathematical thinking? 3. Is it relevant to the school curriculum? 4. Whose culture is it and in particular is it the child’s living culture? The ideas included here pass the first of these three tests but it has to be admitted that Beadwork is not part of children’s living culture or experience. Beads are small and the activity of making the patterns too complicated for most children below ten years of age. In its work for Black History Month, The British Museum has developed activities linking the examples of Beadwork in its collection with practical work in which children have used bead frames to make there own patterns. For older children there is a kit Fun with African Beads published in the UK by the British Museum. Other useful references are: Speaking with Beads by Jean Morris, Thames and Hudson 1994 Not only for its Beauty by Dawn Costello, University of South Africa, 1990 South East African Beadwork , edited by Michael Stevensn and Michael Graham-Stewart, Fernwood Press, 2000