So, You Want to Attract and Retain Diverse Faculty???: An Autoethnography

This is an autoethnography about epistemic injustice (i.e., diminished credibility as a knower) and resilience of an intersectional tenured faculty member who transformed harm into opportunities for rebuilding intellectual confidence and for exercising intellectual courage. Personal stories are used to examine and make explicit epistemic injustice harms by situating them within everyday contexts (Glesne, 2006). The purpose of this essay was to introduce theoretical perspectives with different language for improving discourses about an old challenge, racial bias, and to make explicit the types of harms experienced. Important research questions are posed for consideration by researchers. The stories shared in this essay and their implications will hopefully influence administrators, researchers, and faculty to see the need for reconceptualizing the ways they support diversity within their institutions. These stories and the implications demonstrate the complex subtlety of supporting diversity and this is especially important for institutions who audaciously pursue the goal of attracting and retaining diverse faculty

Examining Sociocultural Contexts of Classrooms to Foster Student Mathematical Discourse and Learning

Mathematics learning and teaching are optimized in classrooms when reform-oriented culture (ROC) is present. This report presents a case study that illustrates how ROC manifested and influenced mathematical Discourses in one sixth-grade classroom. The data was drawn from a study that addressed the question: How do classroom interactions influence mathematical Discourses? The study used interpretive methodology for analysis. One finding was that classroom boundary interactions either enhanced or hindered mathematical Discourses dependent upon sociocultural context alignments. An implication of this research is when “effective” learning and/or teaching strategies are identified, “effective” implementation may require paying close attention to sociocultural context alignment

Productive Peer Culture: Algebra Project Students’ View

The purpose of this study was to determine students’ perspectives about productive peer culture for mathematics learning. The participating students were attending an annual residential summer institute and have been participating in Algebra Project activities for at least one year. Of the 26 high school students attending the institute, they all participate in mathematics literacy work1 through their local Young People’s Project (YPP) groups, while 20 of those students also receive their regular school-based mathematics instruction within an Algebra Project Cohort Model (APCM) structured classroom2. The Algebra Project targeted persistently underserved mathematics students who typically scored in the lowest quartile of state mathematics achievement tests. Additionally, Algebra Project students’ friends who were interested were invited to participate. The goal of the Algebra Project Cohort Model (APCM) is to develop sufficient mathematical understanding so that at the end of four years of high school mathematics, students are able to take college mathematics for credit, for those who choose that path. The APCM structure does not seek to remediate the students, but to accelerate their mathematical understanding through several approaches, such as high school and university partnerships, supporting teachers for developing effective mathematics instruction, and exposing students to experiences that support mathematics learning and success. The approach of interest and the focus for this study is the transformation of student culture related to mathematics learning. I call this transformational classroom culture productive peer culture

So, You Want To Attract And Retain Diverse Faculty???: An Autoethnography

This is an autoethnography about epistemic injustice (i.e., diminished credibility as a knower) and resilience of an intersectional tenured faculty member who transformed harm into opportunities for rebuilding intellectual confidence and for exercising intellectual courage. Personal stories are used to examine and make explicit epistemic injustice harms by situating them within everyday contexts (Glesne, 2006). The purpose of this essay was to introduce theoretical perspectives with different language for improving discourses about an old challenge, racial bias, and to make explicit the types of harms experienced. Important research questions are posed for consideration by researchers. The stories shared in this essay and their implications will hopefully influence administrators, researchers, and faculty to see the need for reconceptualizing the ways they support diversity within their institutions. These stories and the implications demonstrate the complex subtlety of supporting diversity and this is especially important for institutions who audaciously pursue the goal of attracting and retaining diverse faculty

Polynomial Calculus: Rethinking the Role of Calculus in High Schools

Access to advanced study in mathematics, in general, and to Calculus, in particular, depends in part on the conceptual architecture of these knowledge domains, and in this paper we outline an alternative architecture. Our general strategy is to separate advanced concepts from the particular advanced techniques used in their definition and exposition. This alternative architecture, thus, affords access to advanced concepts from an elementary standpoint to a larger group of learners than is presently accomplished. In the case of the Calculus we develop the beginning concepts of the Differential and Integral Calculus using only concepts and skills found in secondary algebra and geometry. The purpose of this reconstruction is not to alter the teaching of limit-based Calculus but rather to affect the content and pedagogy of the secondary mathematics courses which precede it while developing student understanding of key foundational concepts that may enhance the potential for success in post-secondary Calculus for more students

Characteristics of Critical Friendship that Transform Professional Identity

We met at CASTLE 2018, two trained mathematics teacher educators (MTEs), interested in mathematics, and teaching elementary mathematics methods to preservice teachers (PTs). Melva’s self-study research, focused on improving her online methods course, was approaching its second year and her second critical friend had lost interest in continuing. Melva invited Signe to be her critical friend (Schuck & Russell, 2005) and Signe agreed. Explicit expectations of our critical friendship included weekly meetings. Our critical friendship seemed to follow an expected trajectory for, “supporting/coaching the transformation of another’s teaching” (Stolle, et al., 2019, p. 20). However, there were implicit ways our critical friendship evolved, drawing from connected, entangled threads of our individual expectations and our MTE identities

A Conversation About Rethinking Criteria for Qualitative and Interpretive Research: Quality as Trustworthiness

This editorial shares a conversation about qualitative and interpretive research quality between friends. Dr. Yvonna Lincoln, University Distinguished Professor Emerita at Texas A&M University, has been a pioneer in the field of qualitative and interpretive inquiry research. The purpose of this paper is to share Yvonna Lincoln’s contemporary thinking about quality criteria for qualitative and interpretive inquiry research and to make it available to mathematics educators who conduct qualitative research in urban settings

An Engineering Design STEM Project: T-Shirt Launcher

Technology education has the potential to be the glue for integrating science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education through the use of the design process. This should result in increased student interest in science and math, resulting in increased standardized science and math scores (Silk, C. Schunn, & Strand, 2009). In order for this to happen, students need to integrate their grade-level mathematics and science content knowledge in their technology and/or engineering design (Tran & Nathan, 2010). Hopefully, this can be accomplished without losing student interest generated by hands-on, kinesthetic learning. This article provides one example of getting technology education students interested in science and math through the use of a design project. This T-shirt design project was designed for junior and senior level high school students who have completed or are currently taking physics and precalculus

Increasing STEM Competence in Urban, High Poverty Elementary School Populations

Enhancing STEM competence (e.g., interests, knowledge, skills, and dispositions) among urban, high poverty, elementary school populations in the United States (U.S.) is and remains a growing national concern, especially since Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) competence is and will continue to be a necessary requisite for gainful employment in the future, according to workforce development experts. In an attempt to address this gap, many urban elementary schools have begun to offer STEM-related programs to increase STEM learning at an early age. STEM competence (interest, knowledge, skills, and dispositions), however, remains low. This paper results in a matrix used to analyze children\u27s fictional literary selections and a model that argues that elementary teachers, as the first point of contact with young students, can affect STEM competence. By adopting a more culturally responsive pedagogy that attends to the 21st Century Learning Skills and the Next Generation Science Standards, teachers can choose literature that serves to excite and reinforce STEM learning

Novel Statistical Analysis in the Context of a Comprehensive Needs Assessment for Secondary STEM Recruitment

There is a myriad of career opportunities stemming from science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. In addition to careers in corporate settings, teaching is a viable career option for individuals pursuing degrees in STEM disciplines. With national shortages of secondary STEM teachers, efforts to recruit, train, and retain quality STEM teachers is greatly important. Prior to exploring ways to attract potential STEM teacher candidates to pursue teacher training programs, it is important to understand the perceived value that potential recruits place on STEM careers, disciplines, and the teaching profession. The purpose of this study was to explore students’ perceptions of the usefulness of STEM disciplines and their value in supporting students’ careers. A novel statistical method was utilized, combining exploratory-factor analysis, the analysis of variance, generalized estimating equation evaluations under the framework of a generalized linear model, and quantile regression. Using the outputs from each statistical measure, students’ valuation of each STEM discipline and their interest in pursuing teaching as a career option were assessed. Our results indicate a high correlation of liking and perceived usability of the STE disciplines relative to careers. Conversely, our results also display a low correlation of the liking and perceived usability of mathematics relative to future careers. The significance of these diametrically related results suggests the need for promotion of the interrelatedness of mathematics and STE