Integrating the Urban Arts and Mathematics: The Journey of One Teacher and His Students

• In Event: 34.078 - Roundtable Session 13
  In Roundtable Session: 34.078-3 - The Transdisciplinary Nature of Mathematics Education

Abstract

The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (2000) encourages teachers to make mathematics engaging and relevant to students’ interests. The urban arts play a significant role in the lives of many of today’s youth and may thus be a powerful vehicle for students to engage in and with mathematics. The urban arts include a range of practices that are closely tied to, and extend beyond, the aesthetic forms and values of hip-hop culture including rapping, DJing, breakdancing, graffiti, hip-hop theatre, photography, journalism, and fashion (Chang, 2007). Urban arts education has been found to result in positive outcomes for students’ engagement in after-school activities and classrooms (Emdin, 2011; Hill, 2009; Low, 2011); yet, studies of the urban arts in mathematics education contexts are limited. In this paper, we describe how a secondary mathematics teacher, Anthony, integrated the urban arts into his teaching practice and the impact on his students’ engagement.

Recognizing the interests of the students’ in the urban arts, this study draws on culturally relevant pedagogy (Ladson-Billings, 1994); where teachers are committed to students and their communities, foster equitable social relations that are critical of existing power structures, and believe that knowledge is constructed collectively and built on students’ culture and experiences (Gutstein, Lipman, Hernandez, & de los Reyes, 1997). Anthony collaborated with a street artist and then a breakdancer (b-boy), to deliver four interdisciplinary units in geometry and probability in his Grade 8 mathematics class. Data was collected in the form of teacher interviews, artist interviews, student interviews, and planning meetings (between Anthony, artists, and mathematics education researchers). A preliminary qualitative data analysis of field notes and interview and meeting transcripts identified emerging themes informed by the literature.

Findings suggest that the urban arts units seemed to be a catalyst for students who were previously disengaged and struggling academically. Students exhibited an increased level of autonomy and sense of agency in their learning. Students shared that as a result of the incorporation of elements of personal interest, their enjoyment of mathematics increased. Anthony was keen to use an interdisciplinary approach in his teaching, yet he did not have the “funds of knowledge” (Moll, Amanti, Neff, & Gonzalez, 1992) required to integrate the urban arts. Partnerships with community artists allowed Anthony to become familiar with urban arts culture, make connections with mathematics, and co-develop curriculum.

Our paper provides an example of a teacher’s successful implementation of an interdisciplinary approach to teaching mathematics and is significant as it contributes to the limited literature of the urban arts in mathematics education contexts. Specifically, these results show ways in which interactions with artists provided opportunities to develop funds of knowledge to connect to mathematics.

Authors

• Limin Jao, McGill University

• Marta Anna Kobiela, McGill University

• Melissa Proietti, McGill University

• Deborah Friedmann