Transdisciplinarity, Critical Mathematics Education, and Sustainability

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

Abstract

The goal of this theoretical paper is to create a vision of mathematics education for sustainability that acknowledges the sociopolitical turn in mathematics education (Gutierrez, 2013), importance of resisting the neoliberal tendency of mainstream interdisciplinary approaches such as STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education, and goes beyond the savior status of mathematics education in addressing contemporary issues and crises. After defining and outlining our sociopolitical commitment, we offer suggestions on how sustainability should be approached in mathematics education, specifically in pre-service teacher education.

Sustainability is not a major topic in mathematics education research and practice. However the authors that have written about sustainability (Barwell, 2013; Renert, 2011; Sriraman & Knoll, 2009) recognize that sustainability should be more than just the context for enriching mathematical instruction. Furthermore, there seems to be the consensus within mathematics education community that literacy (including mathematical and statistical literacy) is more than a minimal subset of content knowledge in a particular field (see, for example, Gal, 2004; Watson & Callingham, 2003). Further, the definition of literacy has been expanded to include “desired beliefs, habits of mind, or attitudes, as well as a general awareness and a critical perspective” (Gal, 2004, p. 48). Building on this work, we introduce the concept of criticality in the context of sustainability: interrogating the structures in society that are creating unsustainable conditions, and in turn envisioning how to transform such structures for a more just and sustainable world for tomorrow. Criticality goes beyond using mathematics to read and write the world (Gutstein, 2006) but also to acknowledge and seeing the formatting power of mathematics (Skovsmose, 1994) and its responsibility in creating issues of injustice, such as sustainability issues like climate change (Barwell, 2013).

Stemming from the notion of criticality, we offer a pedagogical scenario of teaching sustainability in the context of food justice and food waste. We start from Frankenstein’s (2010, 2011) strategy of presenting real-life examples of mathematics, which are also outrageously horrible in order to motivate students to investigate such issues themselves. This may lead to student-generated questions, such as just how much food is thrown away each day? What type of food is being thrown away? Are certain types of food more likely to be thrown away than others?

Another important pedagogical component is to apply criticality to mathematical models used to shape policy. These models become realised abstractions (Skovsmose, 1994), which shape our reality determining, for example, who does or does not have to pay for lunch at school. In this way mathematicians have a very real power and responsibility over society. Presenting such models as that for the poverty threshold and the power it has in shaping reality would be important for both students and teachers to experience in their own mathematics education. As mathematics education for sustainability gains momentum and enters curriculum standards and considerations of the decision-making, it is important to outline the pedagogical strategies that are in line with the sociopolitical turn advocated by Gutierrez. This paper contributes to this goal.

Authors

• Travis Weiland, Appalachian State University

• Nenad Radakovic, College of Charleston

• Jesse Bazzul, University of Regina