"Not That Different From Where I'm From": Community Mathematics Explorations in a Low-Income, White Community

• In Event: Community Mathematics Explorations 2.0: Expanding on the Work of TEACH Math

Abstract

Much of the CME research comes from bilingual and multicultural student communities. In contrast, I explored the use of the CME in a high-poverty, historically White, Midwestern community. I also explored the impact of technology on how PT navigated children’s community and cultural funds of knowledge.

My elementary mathematics methods course is unique in several ways. First, my institution is exploring the impact of a community partnership model. I teach our mathematics methods course on-site at Hilltop Elementary, a pseudonym for a local school in which teachers and administrators are positioned as partners in teacher preparation. This model allows opportunities for intimate relationships with the children, teachers, and community members as all our methods courses meet at Hilltop. Second, Hilltop serves a historically low-income, urban, White community with roots in Appalachian culture. While the neighborhood is growing more diverse, this historically low-income, urban, White community allows PTs the opportunity to explore children’s cultural knowledge separate from a framework of funds of knowledge as connected to ethnicity (Moll, Amanti, Neff, & Gonzalez, 1992) or ethnomathematics (D’Ambrosio, 1985). Third, my teacher education program is a PreK to 3rd-grade program, placing significant emphasis on early childhood education and working with two preK classrooms at Hilltop.

I enacted the CME with two cohorts, both largely self-identifying as female and White. While Hilltop historically catered to a White community, the population of the neighborhood is rapidly changing. Currently, Hilltop Elementary is 39.4% Black, 30.6% White, and 21.9% Latino/a, with 96.5% of the students eligible for free lunch. We started the CME at the beginning of the semester with a group community walk led by several of administrators, teachers, and parents. Over the course of the semester, PTs enacted an 8-week long case study with a student, focusing on learning about the child’s mathematical thinking and community knowledge. Each PT was given an iPad Mini 4 to use for the semester, specifically to document interactions with the community and their case study students.

Using a case study approach (Stake, 1995), I analyzed photos and reflections from this community walk and reflections PT made about their case study student’s cultural and community knowledge at the end of the semester. Preliminary findings show that: (a) the iPad technology was useful to document each PTs interactions with children, (b) PTs who worked with White children were more open in their noticing of mathematical knowledge rather than PTs who worked with non-White children, (c) PTs who worked with bilingual learners struggled in connecting to their child’s mathematical thinking, and (d) the effort put into the community walk and partnership helped most of the PTs feel very connected to the community. These findings show that the community walk and partnership helped the mainly White teachers feel connected to this historically low-income, White community. And, the mainly White PTs were more open to learning about White children’s knowledge as opposed to non-White children’s mathematical knowledge. Issues and tensions with these findings will be discussed.

Author

• Theodore Chao, The Ohio State University