Teaching Mathematics for Racial Justice: Frameworks and Perspectives on Critical Quantification Practices From In-Service Teachers

• In Event: Critical Quantification in Practice: Advancing Research on Racial Affinity-Based Professional Learning Programs in Mathematics Education

Abstract

Teaching mathematics for social justice (TMfSJ) is an approach to teaching that supports students’ socio-political consciousness using various frameworks, methods and tools (Gutstein, 2007; Kokka, 2014). Despite the advances in TMfSJ, there has been a lack of explicit focus on teaching mathematics for racial justice (Gustein, 2004; Larnell, Bullock, & Jett, 2019), or TMfRJ. The fusion of socio-political consciousness in TMfSJ provides an opportunity for students to engage in practices such as mathematical modeling and reasoning to better understand issues of social injustice in society and in their local communities. However, TMfRJ has the propensity to provide an opportunity to contend with and explore necessary conversations around teacher and professional development with specific regard to various issues of race and racial injustice in society amongst men who teach math and the students they serve. This paper and panel presentation explores some of the theoretical and conceptual positions in literature related to TMfRJ. More specifically, the paper will seek to make sense of the dearth of literature on TMfRJ to examine the many ways that in-service teachers who identify as Black and/or Latino make sense of teaching and learning mathematics for racial justice in K-12 settings.

Author

• Nathan Alexander, Morehouse College
  Presenting Author