Teaching Mathematics for Social Justice and its Effects on Affluent Students

• Main Author: Wonnacott, Vanessa
• Other Authors: Esmonde, Indigo
• Language: en_ca
• Published: 2011
• Subjects: social justice; mathematics; social agency; 0727; 0280
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1807/27371

There is a crisis in mathematics education (National Research Council, 1989). This crisis has caused stakeholders to question the purpose of mathematics education. Teaching mathematics for social justice is a pedagogy that uses mathematics as a tool to expose students to issues concerning power, resource inequities, and disparate opportunities between different social groups to illicit social and political action (Gutstein, 2006). This study uses action research to explore the effects of incorporating social justice issues in mathematics with affluent, middle school students. Findings indicate that integrating social justice issues into mathematics affected some students’ cognitive and affective domains and in some cases led to empowerment and action. The study also found that students’ perception of responsibility, their age and personal connections along with the amount of teacher direction may have affected students’ development of social agency. These findings help to inform teachers’ practices and contribute to literature on critical mathematics.