• Teachers are starting to bring in social justice-related questions to help students see the importance of math 

• Students are receiving questions relating to:

-policing patterns

-the spread of the pandemic

-campaign finance 

-food deserts

-disaster aid

-college-admission test scores

• Some math teachers think of math classes as a neutral zone because numbers are seen as a "universal language" but teachers who advocate for social justice in math classes are arguing that the teachers failing to incorporate social justice issues in class are depriving students of being able to use math in the real world

• Most people think math should be connected to the real world when only talking about space or STEM related topics and don't incorporate race in math

• Sometimes teachers who talk about involving social justice in a math classroom are often harassed online causing others to fear talking about it

• Social justice in math is becoming popular in middle schools and high schools and even some elementary school teachers are starting to incorporate it too

• The "Ethnics Studies Math" course created by Shraddha Shirude, a math teacher at Garfield High in Seattle, talks about oppression, identities, and other ideas related to technology or health

• Many teachers who try to incorporate social justice topics in math, allow the students to choose topics they would like to look into 

• Andrew Brantlinger, who is a Professor of Math Education at the University of Maryland, attempted to include social justice in his classroom but has said that his lack of experience of including social justice may have caused a problem because he did not observe a positive impact with his students' learning  

Adopting this in the future: 

In high school, I don't remember a teacher ever telling me how we can use the math we were learning in real life.  Now, in college, my calculus professor, while introducing a new topic, will tell us instances where the method is used in the real world. Most of the connections have to do with his study of Jellyfish and how they move! When I am a teacher, I want my kids to see a point on why they are learning the stuff I am teaching them. I think that is why I never really enjoyed studying history because I didn't see a point in memorizing facts about wars.  Math can be related to the world outside of STEM topics and students need to learn that early on in their education.  

• "Every citizen needs to have some basic numeracy and quantitative reasoning skills; they need problem-solving strategies and critical thinking tools. They need to know how to apply mathematical knowledge to real life."

• It is hard for kids to see math outside of the classroom 

• Make students research math topics such as:

-prison and mental health rates 

-poverty/minimum wage vs living wage 

-labor laws and statistics 

-the impact of tutoring in diverse locations

-pollution and climate 

-credit cards and money

• This will help students: 

-be able to see how easily data can be misread and how people can manipulate graphics to mislead people 

-use probability to look at juries and the ratio of races on staff

-use data to look at the division of wages and if they are fair

-use statistics to determine whether there is/is not racial profiling at play with traffic stop data

-use geometry to see how UPS, FedEx, and USPS are functioning during the Covid pandemic

• "Social justice teaching in mathematics focuses on promoting equity within the mathematics classroom, and empowering students to understand and confront inequities outside the classroom."

Adopting this in a future classroom: 

Having students relate math to topics they are interested in is such a great idea. In my future classroom, I want my students to be motivated to learn mathematics and one way to do that is by having them relate it to things they are interested in.  Math is necessary for education because it relates to real-world situations that students will face in their lifetime. 

• The NCSM, National Council of Supervisors of Mathematics, and TODOS, Mathematics for All, believe that  social justice is a key part  of the advancement of math education

• Social Justice in math needs to include fair teaching practices and equal expectations

• The labeling of a student's readiness to learn starts as early as kindergarten (by standardized tests and other tools)

• Minorities are often labeled as "troubled kids" and "low kids"

• "Deficit thinking" implies that some students are lacking compared to the dominant group whereas a Social Justice approach assumes that students have knowledge from their lives that they can apply to math class 

• Students bring varied cultural, linguistic, and mathematical capabilities 

• Standardized tests are gatekeeping tools that rank students by race, class, and gender. Dividing the students by math level early on sets some kids behind others and has a long-term negative effect. 

• There is a belief that students must "master the basics" before attempting to problem solve which sets some students behind

• Non-white children are the majority of public schools yet the math education workforce is predominately white

• Math can be viewed as a mirror and lens to the world around us. 

• High expectations, high-quality content, and a strong family/community relationship all have a positive effect on students learning math. Teachers, can and should, connect math, students' thinking, and family-based knowledge in their math curriculum. 

• Three steps that will help implement this position:

-Acknowledgment: Teachers of math must acknowledge that the math education system is biased. There is institutional discrimination based on race, ethnicity, class, and gender. Math teachers have to reflect on their privileges and the obstacles faced in their math education. Teachers should partner with families and communities to make a change.

-Action: there are several actions that teachers can take relating to the belief system and structure, the curriculum and instruction, and partnering with the community

-Accountability: Teachers and leaders must be held accountable for making math education fair for all 

Adopting this in the future: 

In my classroom, I very much plan to value my students and believe in all of them equally. If I teach high school, I don't know if I can do much for the division of students because I will be teaching the students later in their education after they have already been divided for quite some time. However, I can do my best to provide extra help for students if they are struggling.  Teachers are a huge part of education and when I have students of my own,  I hope to make strong connections with students and find a way to connect what we are learning to the outside world no matter what their situations at home are like.  

• A professor at the University of Virginia, Robert Berry, believes that teaching math for social justice gives students the ability to use math to advocate for social change. Students are able to use their life experiences and interests to inspire their understanding of math. 

• People in the real world need math, statistics, and to be able to understand data. For example: 

-living wages

-legislative districts 

-income inequality 

-food

-climate change

• Using math in the context of a social justice issue can help students determine their own conclusions about whether things are fair or not. 

• According to Professor Berry, teaching mathematics for social justice to students is necessary because: 

1) it helps to build a well informed society

2) teaching it deepens students' math knowledge by connecting math with students’ cultural and community histories 

3) it makes students feel more empowered to confront real-world problems

4) teachers and students start to use math as a tool to explore, understand, and respond to social injustices

• Students need self-confidence in math classrooms. Professor Berry has said, "joy found in mathematics often comes from the ability to explore, understand, and respond to our world. We hope to help every student have a more relevant and meaningful experience by connecting mathematics lessons to social justice topics.”

• Professor Berry wrote a book with some of his colleagues about their hopes for students to enjoy math and make connections between math and real-life situations. They hope to answer the question that students ask all the time, “How will I use ever use this in my real life?”

Adopting this in the future: 

I believe that teaching social justice in math will help students see data behind world issues and will inspire them to apply math to other situations. In my future classroom, my students will be encouraged to find math outside of school. Getting students to see and understand data about climate change, income inequality, politics, and other heavily talked about topics can also help students feel more comfortable talking about the issues and taking a stand. 

• There are racial and class imbalances in every level of math education. 

• A draft of recommendations for schools in California rejected the idea of "gifted kids" in middle schools. It also mentions offering classes such as statistics and data science instead of pushing kids to a calculus route. 

• Teachers should look out for gender and race stereotypes in word problems and involve immigration and inequality in problems

• Jo Boaler, a professor of education at Stanford University, thinks that even the parents who hated math growing up will fight to keep the curriculums the same for their children

• The United States is falling behind other nations in math education

• Within the US, there is a clear racial gap in achievement 

• The draft of CA guidelines proposed a more problem-solving approach rather than memorizing formulas

• Higher classes, like calculus, are not offered at predominately Black or Latino schools

• Colleges need to contribute to the change as well by changing the requirements of high school math classes that students need to take before entering their campus 

Adopting this in the future: 

I definitely plan to edit word problems if there are any types of stereotypes implied in the questions. I don't understand why parents would have problems with teachers implementing a more diverse math curriculum especially if they hated it themselves. I do think students need the basics of addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and a bit of geometry but when it comes to word problems, I don't see a problem with changing the white names to more diverse names or the content to be about anything other than white people situations.