PME-NA

Mathematics Instruction Based on Conspiracy Theory Inoculation: Theorizing a Boundary Crossing Approach

• In Event: Instructional Practices and Activities

Description

Misinformation and conspiracy theories pose societal challenges, prompting educators across multiple subject areas to develop interventions to inoculate young people against such unwarranted beliefs. Mathematics education is not yet a prominent contributor in this arena because mathematical reasoning, although one would hope that it involves the sorts of careful thinking that inoculate students against unwarranted beliefs, often does not transfer outside of the mathematics classroom. This report uses boundary crossing theory to propose particular boundary objects—-repetitive critical questioning, argument diagramming, and confidence ratings—-that have the potential to bridge mathematical and civic reasoning and it invites further consideration of ways to cross the boundaries between mathematical and sociopolitical discourse and to study the impact of such attempts.

Author

• Samuel Otten, University of Missouri at Columbia