From Problem Inflation to Intellectual Leadership: Constructing Math Teacher Candidates to Solve Real Educational Problems in the Age of Social Media

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Thursday 9:45 am - Gold 1
  In Roundtable Session: Preparing Educators for Complex Classrooms: Integration, Leadership, and Content Challenges Across Disciplines

Abstract

This session offers a framework for re-centering teacher education to solve authentic educational problems. Drawing from a year-long NSF Noyce-funded math teacher preparation project (TMMT 2.0), this proposal challenges ideological bloat in teacher education by re-grounding intellectual leadership in identifying and designing learning around relevant problems—specifically, youth safety in the age of social media. Participants will explore a sociocultural framework for teacher learning, professional propensities, and developing math and media literacy as epistemic tools. Through curricular analysis and field-tested examples, this session outlines how math candidates engaged in collaborative inquiry, disciplinary literacy, and protective design for K–12 learners, reframing teacher preparation as a public obligation and pedagogical solution to real dangers facing students.

Authors

• Antoinette S. Linton, California State University - Fullerton

• Cherie Ichinose, California State University - Fullerton