Navajo Math Circles

Documentary | George Csicsery

Navajo Math Circles follows Navajo students in a lively collaboration with mathematicians. Using a model called math circles, the students stay late after school and assemble over the summer at Diné College in Tsaile, Arizona, to study mathematics. The math circles approach emphasizes student-centered learning by putting children in charge of exploring mathematics to their own joy and satisfaction. 

58 minutes

Release: September 12, 2016

Expiration: September 11, 2020

Distributor: PBS Plus

George Csicsery

Producer/Director
GEORGE PAUL CSICSERY, a writer and independent filmmaker since 1968, was born in Germany in 1948, the son of Hungarian parents. He immigrated to the United States in 1951. He has directed 32 films--dramatic shorts, performance films and documentaries.

Dr. Tatiana Shubin

Educator/Cast
DR. TATIANA SHUBIN is a professor of mathematics at San Jose State University, has established a relationship with the people at the Navajo Nation.A native of the Soviet Union, she grew up in the USSR Central Asian republic of Kazakhstan, where she studied with and worked with indigenous peoples such as Kazakhs, Kyrgyz’s, and Uzbeks. Tatiana was herself a student in the Math Circles in her native Leningrad (St. Petersburg).

Dr. Henry Fowler

Native American Advisor/Educator
DR. HENRY FOWLER, (Navajo) is a math and math education professor at Diné College in Tsaile on the Navajo Reservation. He has been teaching math for over 15 years. Dr. Fowler’s Navajo traditional clans are born for Bitter-water and born into Zuni-Edgewater. His maternal grandparents are the Many Goats and his paternal grandparents are the Red-running-into-the-Water.

Walt Pourier

Vice Chair

Walt is Oglala Lakota and created the logo for Urban Rez. He is Creative Director, owner of Nakota Designs Advertising Designs and Graphics. Executive Director of the Stronghold Society nonprofit dedicated to instilling hope and supporting youth movements through Live Life Call To Action Campaigns.

JORDANA BASS

Project Coordinator​

(Hataža Mani Winga)​

"Cinema Aficionado"

Role: Jordana is excited to engage with different Native/Indigenous communities. Her passion for working with youth will help develop the Native Youth Media Project. She will also assist with the Creative Shorts Fellowship (CSF) to help organize deliverables for filmmakers.