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Critical Conversations on Social Justice in Undergraduate Mathematics
Abstract
This article explores how critical conversations engage undergraduate mathematics faculty in a community of practice (CoP) [20] that enhances their knowledge about teaching and learning mathematics for social justice. More broadly, critical conversations are defined as a cooperative learning strategy that can be used to identify, explore, and respond to various interests and issues situated across differing values and beliefs. We present a case study of a critical conversation that took place at a 2016 Mathematics for Social Justice workshop organized by a group of junior faculty. Participant reflections situate perspectives that can help novice and experienced instructors design conversations about teaching mathematics for social justice. Specifically, individual and group reflections highlight the importance of (1) framing and reflecting on the conversation, (2) exploring implications and content connections, and (3) identifying barriers. Implications for faculty members and mathematics departments are provided.
Critical thinking skills (CTS) is one of the required competencies in the 21st century. Using technology in this era is a common thing including in education. One of the learning methods assisted by technology is blended learning. In this study, the effectiveness of blended learning on students’ CTS will be analyzed. The method used in this study was a literature review. There were view steps to investigate the effectiveness of blended learning on students’ CTS namely providing the definition of blended learning, finding information about essential elements in blended learning, then synthesizing some previous studies on the implementation of the method to improve students’ CTS and connecting the studies with blended learning. Based on the literature review result, the implementation of blended learning in Mathematics had the potential to improve students’ CTS. This study could provide an overview of the problems and opportunities to implement blended learning in schools.
We detail our experience running an annual four-day workshop at the University of Minnesota, called the Mathematics Project at Minnesota (MPM). The workshop is for undergraduates who come from groups underrepresented in mathematics and aims to increase the participation and success of such groups in the mathematics major at the University. In this paper, we explain how MPM is organized, discuss its objectives, and highlight some of the sessions that we feel are emblematic of the program's success. The paper concludes with an analysis of achievements and obstacles in the programs' first three years.
Background
Within mathematics education research, policy, and practice, race remains undertheorized in relation to mathematics learning and participation. Although race is characterized in the sociological and critical theory literatures as socially and politically constructed with structural expressions, most studies of differential outcomes in mathematics education begin and end their analyses of race with static racial categories and group labels used for the sole purpose of disaggregating data. This inadequate framing is, itself, reflective of a racialization process that continues to legitimize the social devaluing and stigmatization of many students of color. I draw from my own research with African American adults and adolescents, as well as recent research on the mathematical experiences of African American students conducted by other scholars. I also draw from the sociological and critical theory literatures to examine the ways that race and racism are conceptualized in the larger social context and in ways that are informative for mathematics education researchers, policy makers, and practitioners.
Purpose
To review and critically analyze how the construct of race has been conceptualized in mathematics education research, policy, and practice.
Research Design
Narrative synthesis.
Conclusion
Future research and policy efforts in mathematics education should examine racialized inequalities by considering the socially constructed nature of race.
What is teaching and learning mathematics for social justice (TLMSJ)? How has TLMSJ been taken up in mathematics education-- both historically and contemporarily? Along with unpacking these two central questions, another purpose of this article is to assess the current capacity and stance ofTLMSJ toward addressing issues of racial injustice. We begin with an overview ofTLMSJ as an epistemic perspective and introduce an analytical lens based on selected tenets of critical race theory. We then use this analytical lens to examine extant TLMSJ scholarship toward broadening the possibilities of justice-oriented scholarship in mathematics education.
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In this article, the authors explore critical pedagogy within the context of mathematics classrooms. The exploration demonstrates the evolving pedagogical prac-tices of mathematics teachers when teaching mathematics is explicitly connected to issues of social justice. To frame the exploration, the authors provide brief over-views of the theoretical tenets of critical pedagogy and of teaching mathematics for social justice. Through using narrative and textual data, the authors illustrate how a graduate-level, critical theory and teaching mathematics for social justice course assisted, in part, in providing not only a new language but also a legitim-ization in teachers becoming critical mathematics pedagogues.
This article reports on a 2-year study about teaching and learning mathematics for social justice in an urban, Latino classroom and about the role of an NCTM Standards- based curriculum. I was the teacher in the study and moved with the class from seventh to eighth grade. Using qualitative, practitioner-research methodology, I learned that students began to read the world (understand complex issues involving justice and equity) using mathematics, to develop mathematical power, and to change their orientation toward mathematics. A series of real-world projects was fundamental to this change, but the Standards-based curriculum was also important; such curricula can theoretically promote equity, but certain conditions may need to exist. Social justice pedagogy broadens the concept of equity work in mathematics classrooms and may help promote a more just society.
During the 1990s, the teaching of mathematics became the subject of heated controversies known as the math wars. The immediate origins of the conflicts can be traced to the "reform" stimulated by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics' Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School Mathemat-ics. Traditionalists fear that reform-oriented, "standards-based" curricula are superficial and undermine classical mathematical values; reformers claim that such curricula reflect a deeper, richer view of mathematics than the tradi-tional curriculum. An historical perspective reveals that the underlying issues being contested—Is mathematics for the elite or for the masses? Are there ten-sions between "excellence" and "equity"? Should mathematics be seen as a democratizing force or as a vehicle for maintaining the status quo?—are more than a century old. This article describes the context and history, provides details on the current state, and offers suggestions regarding ways to find a pro-ductive middle ground. Let the war rage. —Wayne Bishop Can't we all just get along? —Rodney King The phrase Math Wars seems oxymoronic, a category error. According to popular belief at least, the facts of mathematics are universally true, its proce-dures universally correct, and both completely independent of culture.
A 2-year follow-up of a randomized field experiment previously reported in Science is presented. A subtle intervention to lessen minority students' psychological threat related to being negatively stereotyped in school was tested in an experiment conducted three times with three independent cohorts (N = 133, 149, and 134). The intervention, a series of brief but structured writing assignments focusing students on a self-affirming value, reduced the racial achievement gap. Over 2 years, the grade point average (GPA) of African Americans was, on average, raised by 0.24 grade points. Low-achieving African Americans were particularly benefited. Their GPA improved, on average, 0.41 points, and their rate of remediation or grade repetition was less (5% versus 18%). Additionally, treated students' self-perceptions showed long-term benefits. Findings suggest that because initial psychological states and performance determine later outcomes by providing a baseline and initial trajectory for a recursive process, apparently small but early alterations in trajectory can have long-term effects. Implications for psychological theory and educational practice are discussed.
Paulo Freire's critical education theory is “re-invented” in the context of a mathematics curriculum for urban working-class adults. The problems Freire poses for teachers in that context are explored, and work of other theorists which deepens or questions aspects of Freire's theory is discussed. Next, Freire's theory is applied to teaching basic mathematics and statistics for the social sciences. It is argued that such mathematical literacy is vital in the struggle for liberatory social change in our advanced technological society. Finally, this reflection on practice is used to pose further problems to be explored in the creation and re-creation of the “pedagogy of the oppressed.”
In this article, Part I of Cultural Action for Freedom, Paulo Freire rejects mechanistic conceptions of the adult literacy process, advocating instead a theory and practice based upon authentic dialogue between teachers and learners. Such dialogue, in Freire's approach, centers upon the learners' existential situations and leads not only to their acquisition of literacy skills, but also, and more importantly, to their awareness of their right as human beings to transform reality. Becoming literate, then, means far more than learning to decode the written representation of a sound system. It is truly an act of knowing, through which a person is able to look critically at the world he/she lives in, and to reflect and act upon it.
Contributes to a radical formulation of pedagogy through its revitalization of language, utopianism, and revolutionary message. . . . The book enlarges our vision with each reading, until the meanings become our own. Harvard Educational RevieWtextless/itextgreaterConstitutes the voice of a great teacher who has managed to replace the melancholic and despairing discourse of the post-modern Left with possibility and human compassion. Educational Theory
This paper explores the question of whether death penalty statutes passed after the 1972 Supreme Court decision in Furman v. Georgia successfully eliminate racial disparities in capital cases. Over 600 homicide indictments in twenty Florida counties in 1976 and 1977 were examined, focusing on homicides between strangers (nonprimary homicides). Those accused of murdering whites are more likely to be sentenced to death than those accused of murdering blacks. This trend is due primarily to the higher probability for those accused of murdering whites to be indicted for first degree murder. When controlling for race of the victim, the data do not clearly support the hypothesis that race of the defendant is strongly associated with the probability of a first degree murder indictment or the imposition of the death penalty.
Prologue Part I. Practice: Introduction I 1. Meaning 2. Community 3. Learning 4. Boundary 5. Locality Coda I. Knowing in practice Part II. Identity: Introduction II 6. Identity in practice 7. Participation and non-participation 8. Modes of belonging 9. Identification and negotiability Coda II. Learning communities Conclusion: Introduction III 10. Learning architectures 11. Organizations 12. Education Epilogue.
This article describes teachers' collective work aimed at learning to teach mathematics for social justice. Teacher interviews, discussions, lessons, and written reflections were analyzed using grounded theory methodology, and teachers' conversations were examined concerning the relationship between mathematical goals and social justice goals. Analysis revealed that early tensions arose around balancing these goals, that teachers focused more attention on the social justice component, and that the instantiation of these goals in practice proved difficult.
First published in 1895: Emile Durkheim's masterful work on the nature and scope of sociology--now with a new introduction and improved translation by leading scholar Steven Lukes.The Rules of the Sociological Method is among the most important contributions to the field of sociology, still debated among scholars today. Through letters, arguments, and commentaries on significant debates, Durkheim confronted critics, clarified his own position, and defended the objective scientific method he applied to his study of humans. This updated edition offers an introduction and extra notes as well as a new translation to improve the clarity and accessibility of this essential work. In the introduction, Steven Lukes, author of the definitive biography Emile Durkheim: His Life and Work, spells out Durkheim's intentions, shows the limits of Durkheim's view of sociology, and presents its political background and significance. Making use of the various texts in this volume and Durkheim's later work, Lukes discusses how Durkheim's methodology was modified or disregarded in practice--and how it is still relevant today. With substantial notes on context, this user-friendly edition will greatly ease the task of students and scholars working with Durkheim's method--a view that has been a focal point of sociology since its original publication. The Rules of the Sociological Method will engage a new generation of readers with Durkheim's rich contribution to the field."
At the dawning of the 21st century, the term “social justice” is appearing in numerous public texts and discourses throughout the field of education. However, and as Gewirtz argued in 1998, the conceptual underpinnings of this catchphrase frequently remain tacit or underexplored. This article elaborates Gewirtz’s earlier “mapping” of social justice theories by examining the tensions that emerge when various conceptualizations of social justice collide and, in turn, their implications for the field of education. By presenting a model of the complex, fraught interactions among diverse claims about social justice, the author seeks to promote continued dialogue and reflexivity on the purposes and possibilities of education for social justice.
Both computers and calculators are limited by architecture, operating system, and software, to some predetermined level of precision within decimal number presentation and calculation. Rational fractions produce either terminating or repeating decimal ...
Within recent studies of education policy, social justice has been an under‐theorized concept. This paper is an attempt to begin to remedy this situation. It critically examines some of the most prominent ways in which social justice has been and is being thought about within various traditions of social theory and concludes by sketching out a framework for conceptualizing social justice in the context of education policy research. However, the main purpose of the paper is not to provide a definitive conceptualization of social justice but to open up a debate which might usefully inform the work of the education policy research community.
To illustrate aspects of critical mathematics education a project involving 14–15 years old students is described. Mathematics education can be organized so as to develop different types of knowing: mathematical knowing, which can be associated with skills developed in traditional teaching; technological knowing, which can be associated with a competence in mathematical model building; and reflective knowing, which can be seen as a competence in evaluating applications of mathematics. The thesis discussed says that if mathemacy should be developed as a competence of importance in a critical education, it must integrate mathematical, technological as well as reflective knowing. Via the description of the project, a possible educational meaning is given to this thesis. Especially, it is discussed what it could mean to involve students in reflections about mathematics as a tool for technological design.
Knowledge creation within a community of practice
- B Allan
Critical race theory and education: History, theory, and implications
- W F Tate
Democracy, education, and the politics of critical pedagogy
- H A Giroux