Academic, Peer-Social, and Political Care for Racially Diverse Secondary Mathematics Students

• In Event: The Fight for Racial Justice in STEM Education: Perspectives From the Field

Abstract

This study sought to understand how a racially diverse set of ninth-grade students understand caring mathematics instruction along academic, peer-social, and political dimensions, and to contextualize their understandings in students’ narratives of and goals and desires for schooling. Analysis of twelve interviews of a racially diverse set of ninth graders demonstrates how students’ desires to succeed in schooling while connecting to peers and being free from racism and abuses of power informed their understandings of caring mathematics instruction. Students of color also articulated the importance of political clarity with caring teachers of color but ambivalence about political clarity with white teachers. Synthesis of the three dimensions of caring, implications for teacher education, and future research potential are discussed.

Author

• Drew Nucci, WestEd