Teaching Mathematics for Social Justice as a Tool for Teacher Educators to Translate Theories of Equity Into Practice

• In Event: 46.086 - Roundtable Session 16
  In Roundtable Session: 46.086-13 - Toward Social Justice in Mathematics Education: Bridging Multiple Perspectives to Advance Critical Mathematics Praxis

Abstract

Many teacher education programs identify social justice as a central objective (Grant & Agosto, 2008), with an emphasis conceptualizing social justice and challenging beliefs and dispositions. Practical strategies for planning and teaching for social justice remain absent (Leonard & Evans, 2012). The same holds for TMfSJ, in particular (Bartell, 2011), and even less is known about the role of teacher educators in supporting emerging teachers (ETs) in translating theories of social justice and equity into practice. The purpose of this paper is to explore opportunities for teacher educators to connect theories of equitable mathematics teaching to practice by TMfSJ alongside ETs. The following research questions guided this investigation: How does a teacher educator connect concrete experiences with TMfSJ to conceptions of equitable mathematics teaching? How do the teacher educator’s connections compare to the ETs’ connections?

The conception of equity theorized by Gutiérrez (2012) is particularly well suited to situating concrete experiences of TMfSJ within the broader context of equitable mathematics learning. Gutiérrez (2012) described four aspects of equity along two axes: access and achievement (dominant axis); identity and power (critical axis). Students require equal access to all the resources they need to learn and more equal achievement on assessments, in participation and in the mathematics pipeline. The critical axis considers student identity by recognizing alternative ways of knowing in mathematics and takes up issues of power such as whose voice is heard and mathematics as a way to critique society.

This study investigated a project that was part of a secondary mathematics methods course. I (the course instructor) worked collaboratively alongside six ETs during all stages of planning, enacting and reflecting on a weeklong unit to guide urban middle-school students in using mathematics to explore social issues. I analyzed the transcript of the final debriefing session using iterative coding, first to identify emergent themes and then to identify ways that the ETs and I connected concrete experiences with TMfSJ to the four aspects of equity. The purpose of this debriefing was to identify important considerations for translating theories of social justice and equity to practice.

The following themes emerged as important in translating TMfSJ into practice in our project and in the future: knowledge of mathematics, students and social issues. Discussions of experiences related to these themes were most commonly linked to issues of power in equitable mathematics teaching. This focus is not surprising given TMfSJ’s emphasis on using mathematics as a tool of power to critique and change society. During the debriefing, I frequently linked TMfSJ experiences to issues of identity in equitable mathematics teaching and made this connection more frequently than the ETs did. A closer examination of the ways in which I connected issues of identity to TMfSJ and the ways in which the ETs responded illuminates the potential for concrete experiences with TMfSJ to make goals for equitable mathematics teaching more tangible. These findings shed light on the potential for TMfSJ in teacher education courses to influence ETs’ equitable teaching practices more broadly.

Author

• Frances Harper, Michigan State University