One critique of teaching mathematics for social justice is “how do teachers learn to teach mathematics in socially just ways?” This symposium will provide some possible solutions to this critique as panel presenters describe their efforts to engage mathematics teachers in the empowering possibilities of teaching mathematics for social justice while attending to standards-based mathematics.

Perspectives: The NCTM’s recommendation to blend content and process standards throughout mathematics instruction requires the development of a mathematics classroom that differs from what Mukhopadhyay, Powell, and Frankenstein (2009) refer to as the “current traditional, globalized academic mathematics” (p. 78) found in most U.S. schools. In this different mathematics classroom, students are no longer passive, empty depositories awaiting the teacher’s deposits—what Freire (1970/1998) coined, “the ‘banking’ concept of education” (p. 72)—but are active co-creators of classrooms “where students of varied backgrounds and abilities work with expert teachers, learning important mathematical ideas with understanding, in environments that are equitable, challenging, supportive, and technologically equipped for the twenty-first century” (NCTM, 2000, p. 4). These co-created classrooms, if desired, can serve as a site for a different mathematics pedagogy—a pedagogy of teaching mathematics for social justice (TMfSJ).

Although the concept of teaching for “social justice” is increasingly being emphasized in teacher education programs as part of teachers’ overall “diversity” or “multicultural” initial preparation or professional development (McDonald, 2007), there is much less emphasis on how the actual practice of teaching for social justice might be included in the preparation and development of mathematics teachers. For the most part, the mathematics education literature has reported the teaching practices of exemplar critical mathematics pedagogues (e.g., Marilyn Frankenstein, Eric Gutstein, and Ole Skovsmose). There is a scarcity of literature that has reported how mathematics teacher educators and/or programs might assist in developing critical mathematics teachers who teach for social justice or just how classrooms teachers actually put TMfSJ into practice.

Modes of Inquiry: The studies that will be reported in this session differ in specifics, yet the methodologies used can be described in broad terms. Each scholar reports on a study of her or his own classroom in which the scholar taught preservice or inservice teachers. Four of the studies are located in mathematics methods courses, while the fifth is a report of professional development. Each educator responds to the question: How might we support teachers in TMfSJ?

 

Data Sources: For each study a key source of data is teachers’ assignments in which they have engaged or responded to TMfSJ. Each data source has been analyzed using qualitative methods including practitioner inquiry and case study (one study also includes quantitative analysis). In most cases, researchers used open coding techniques to identify themes extracted from the data.

 

Individual Papers Findings:

 

Paper A: In this paper, the author provides a description of a mathematics methods course for preservice elementary school teachers that has been re-envisioned to include explicit attention to equity and social justice. The researcher shares the guiding principles and outlines the structure of the methods course, which extends the ideas in the NCTM Standards. Additionally, the hurdles encountered in setting up such an explicitly focused methods course are discussed. The author cautions that initially preservice teachers too often have a narrow view of equity and social justice in mathematics instruction, considering it merely as an add-on to the “real” instruction; therefore, a vital component of the methods course includes debunking this dangerously narrow view.

Paper B: In this paper, the authors discuss two case studies with practicing middle school teachers that had an explicit focus on challenging teachers’ beliefs and dispositions about teaching mathematics for social justice. The researchers claim that to teach others to teach mathematics for social justice one needs to (a) challenge teacher beliefs and expectations about who can learn and do mathematics, (b) examine teachers’ dispositions toward teaching mathematics and TMfSJ, and (c) model transformative pedagogy in teacher education.

 

Paper C: In this paper, the author provides a narrative of evolving efforts to teach teachers how to teach mathematics for social justice. In a methods course for preservice elementary and middle school teachers, the author describes how the use of carefully selected vignettes provide an entry point to engage teachers to ask questions about what TMfSJ means and what it might “look like” in the classroom and, in the end, supports preservice teachers in teaching mathematics to, for, and with all children. The preservice teachers’ discussions about the vignettes provide insight into their beliefs and misconceptions, highlighting the importance of considering the relational aspects of TMfSJ, developing critical perspectives about TMfSJ, and building on children’s cultural and community knowledge and experience with TMfSJ. 

 

Paper D: In this paper, the author describes the meetings and activities of a working group of high school mathematics teachers as they explored the possibilities of TMfSJ. During the TMfSJ group meetings, the researcher/facilitator focused the members’ attention broadly on the question: What is a socially just society and how might we recognize it if we saw it? The researcher outlines her ever-evolving perception about the nature of teaching others about TMfSJ, acknowledging that it is not the final product but the process of imagining and developing individual understandings of TMfSJ with teachers that often matters the most. As the TMfSJ group worked collaboratively to develop a social justice mathematics unit, group members revealed both their views on the power of TMfSJ and their persistent concerns about TMfSJ.

 

Organization of Session

The session will include a 5-minute overview from the chair, 10 minute presentations from each presenter, a 15 minute critique from the discussant, and 30 minutes to engage the audience in responding to the following questions:

1. How can we teach mathematics for social justice and still provide the rigorous mathematics that students need to be successful?
2. What dispositions do teachers need to TMfSJ?
3. What might TMfSJ look like in K–12 classrooms?
4. How do we know TMfSJ when we see it?
5. What is a socially just society?