Dreaming Beyond Numbers: Storytelling as a Methodology and Praxis in Mathematics Education

Session Type: Symposium

Abstract

Storytelling is not just how we know—it is how we relate, how we resist, and how we reimagine mathematics education. Across the three papers in this symposium, storytelling emerges as a research method, spiritual praxis, and computationally traceable form of resistance. Each paper leverages narrative to surface embedded inequities and imagine liberatory futures—whether through collective dreaming, sacred dialogue, or large-scale textual analysis. Together, they affirm that dreaming is not escapism, but a rigorous and relational act of justice. In doing so, the papers challenge dominant paradigms of objectivity and neutrality, advancing storytelling as a transformative methodology capable of disrupting dehumanizing systems and rebuilding mathematics education in ways that honor culture, complexity, and care.

Sub Unit

• SIG-Research in Mathematics Education

Chair

• Nathan Alexander, Howard University

Papers

• Sifting Meaning from Data: Integrating Computational Text Analysis into Qualitative Inquiry - Nathan Alexander, Howard University; Darnell Leatherwood, University of Michigan

• Collective Dreaming as Methodology: How Storytelling Workshops Transform Mathematics Education Through Shared Imagination - Blake O'Neal Turner, Marquette University; Rolonda L. Payne, University of Maryland

• Dreaming in Tandem: A Duoethnographic Inquiry into Spiritual Praxis and Justice-Centered Mathematics Futures - David J. Wallace, Awakening Minds LLC; Candace Kyles, Loyola University Chicago

Session Organizer

• Rolonda L. Payne, University of Maryland

Discussant

• Blake O'Neal Turner, Marquette University