Contando Historias de Familia: Prospective Maestras Mexicanas Co-Constructing New Meanings With Mathematics

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session 8
  In Roundtable Session: Navigating Identities and Positionings in STEM

Abstract

The journey of becoming a mathematics social justice educator is complex and challenging. The prevalence of whiteness in teacher education programs (Philip and Benin, 2014) leaves very little opportunities for prospective teachers of color to construct new meanings with math by centering their lived experiences. Through a series of pláticas, 4 prospective maestras Mexicanas engage in conversations about justice with and of mathematics. Preliminary findings suggests that the stories about parents’ experiences with math supported expansive meanings about who does math and what is math. Furthermore, co-participants in the study were able to reflect on their own experiences and further problematize the “good at math” as a natural ability storyline.

Author

• Sandra Zuniga, University of California - Berkeley