International Perspectives on Social Justice in Mathematics Education

International perspectives on social justice in mathematics education (henceforth the monograph) is edited by Brarath Sriraman and comprises 14 essays about critical mathematics education. The foreword is by Ubiratan D’Ambrosio, whose work on ethnomathematics in particular and on democratic and critical mathematics education in general has re-conceptualized the mathematics education field. D’Ambrosio observes that ‘‘social justice allows us not only to know what has been decided about ourselves and society (which is the objective of ‘‘re-productory’’ and imitative education), but calls us to participate in decisions about ourselves and society (which is the objective of creative critical education)’’ (Foreword). D’Ambrosio considers this monograph to be an astonishing collection of scholarly articles from all over the world, offering perspectives of tremendous importance to mathematics educators with an interest in social justice. For this review, I read the monograph together with Michael Apple’s work on critical mathematics pedagogies

Renewing Textbooks to Align with Reformed Curriculum in Former Colonies: Ugandan school mathematics textbooks

Several nations have reformed both their mathematics pedagogy and curriculum. The remaining challenge is to review teaching and learning resources to support the renewed pedagogy and curriculum. This paper responds to the question: What pedagogy and curriculum are depicted in textbooks used in Uganda? Ugandan textbooks were analyzed in terms of mathematics content structure and genre, and presentation of written and non-written voice and looks. Whereas certain Ugandan mathematics textbooks used the narrative form and others chose to eliminate the use of extensive text, these textbooks include common characteristics such as spiral coverage of mathematics content. A few strides toward reform pedagogy, such as use of contexts familiar to learners in development of rules and concepts, were evinced among selected Uganda textbooks. More strides are needed in revising a majority textbooks to align with the renewed curricula on certain aspects including integrating learning tools—digital and non-digital—within the textbook resources. A critical reflection on curriculum renewals adopted from other countries is needed when designing textbooks to match these renewals

School Mathematics in the Era of Globalization

This essay reviews the principles motivating contemporary critical mathematics discourses. Drawing from varied critical discourses including ethnomathematics, critical theory, post-structural theory, and situated and ecological cognition, the essay examines the pragmatics of critiques to the privileged role of school mathematics in the era of globalization. Critiques of modern school curricula argue that globalization practices linking education to technological and economic development are increasing, and the curriculum is being redefined through discourses of privatization, national standards, and global competitiveness. Globalization has reinforced the utilitarian approach to school mathematics and the Western bias in the prevailing mathematics curricula, as well as helped to globalize pervasive mathematical ideologies. In most instances, a newfound status that mathematics is enjoying in this era of globalization is not well deserved, as school mathematics can no longer be considered culturally, socially, politically, nor economically neutral. In particular, school mathematics is increasingly critiqued as a cultural homogenizing force, a critical filter for status, a perpetuator of mistaken illusions of certainty, and an instrument of power. With such concerns it is becoming more evident that mathematics learning and education have implications for building just and democratic societies. As an African female scholar who is now living in Canada, I reflect on what the critical stance might mean for contexts with which I am familiar. I discuss the challenges of school mathematics with a view to improving curriculum and pedagogy so as to raise the awareness of teachers and learners to the questionable assumptions from which mathematics derives its prestige. The mathematics curriculum is central to cultivating values as well as fostering the conscientization of learners

Mathematics Tasks as Experiential Therapy for Elementary Preservice Teachers

In what unique ways can mathematics tasks contribute to pre-service teachers’ understanding of subject matter and pedagogy? And what school mathematics tasks can usefully be included in a pre-service program? To contribute to answering these questions, we report on the selection and choice criteria for mathematics tasks that we use in an elementary pre-service program. We see these tasks as experiential therapy. We believe that for teachers to see mathematics, and consequently mathematics teaching and learning, in new ways then they need to personally experience mathematics in new ways. We discuss at length one of the tasks, the Consecutive Terms task. The evidence that we have gathered shows that teachers‘ engagement with such tasks may help them become better positioned to teach mathematics in what we refer to as “warm” ways, in that re- service teachers begin to revisit their mathematical experiences and start seeing mathematics as different from the stereotypical view of a cold, rigid, individual endeavour

Nonmath Analogies in Teaching Mathematics

Way too often, students find some concepts too abstract to comprehend. One of the strategies used to assist students with building conceptual knowledge is to use analogies. We investigate the place of nonmath analogies in teaching school mathematics. First, we demonstrate the widespread use of analogies by drawing examples through context analysis of tutoring websites, textbooks, and teaching experiences. Second, we argue that analogies reflect the grounded nature of mathematical concepts in common life experiences and, thus, have an essential place in instruction. To support our argument we offer a theoretical rationale based on research literature and historical sources

Mathematics-for-Teachers (and Students)

What mathematics do elementary teachers need and how might such mathematics be provided in a teacher education program? In this paper we discuss the development of a mathematics-for-teachers component for our elementary (K-8) preservice education program. Our mathematics-for-teachers program has evolved from an elective course for 20 preservice teachers, to 440 preservice teachers working in small groups in an auditorium setting, to a fully online component. The mathematics-for-teachers component immerses preservice teachers in mathematics experiences that many of them have never had, namely, experiences where they attend deeply to mathematical relationships and have opportunities to sense the pleasure of mathematical insight. As such, our primary goal is experiential therapy (authors, 2005) rather than content knowledge

Decentralisation and Education in Africa: The Case of Uganda

Many countries have decentralized their education systems. In some countries, especially developing countries, educational decentralisation is part of a larger exercise of devolving all public services. In sub-Saharan Africa, the factors that encourage centralization include positive effects such as political stability and economic development, as well as push factors like existing regional inequalities and inadequacies, real and perceived, of central governments. Donor communities are encouraging these poor countries to decentralize and/or privatize public services. Among these countries, Uganda has proceeded quickly in an almost-all-at-once decentralisation strategy. The current Ugandan government administered some decentralisation in the areas under its control in the early 1980s while it was still a guerilla force called the National Resistance Movement. After it came to power in 1986, the government adopted country-wide decentralisation, cost sharing and privatization as policies sup- ported by multinational donor agencies, such as the World Bank (WB) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). To date, most government-administered services (except a few, such as the police and the army) that have not yet been privatized are decentralized. These include primary healthcare, education, basic services in water and sanitation, feeder roads and agricultural extension. Decentralisation has changed the delivery of public services, particularly education

The I Teach Mathematics Online Project: Learning and Teaching through Innovative Practices

Providing professional development and support resources that offer additional learning to what teachers might have studied at school, university, and in practice is an increasingly recognized way to support teachers Web-based resources promise to deliver content and pedagogical knowledge in ways enriched by digital technologies. We report on a prototype of a project, I Teach Math project, ITM, developed to deliver pedagogical content knowledge for teaching through problem-solving. ITM was designed from video interviews of selected mathematics teachers on their favorite lessons. On the ITM online database the videos are presented in short clips. Virtual learning objects are used to annotate and illustrate the content. The online environment was harnessed to aid teachers to observe exemplary teaching practices, to build a database of exemplary teaching, and for sharing ideas on teaching practices. In the process of designing ITM we surveyed existing online projects to select 10 major players for a comparative analysis. This paper reports on the development of ITM. It explores the digital-technologies utilized, the pedagogical content knowledge and pedagogical thinking shared by the teachers

Problem Solving as a Pedagogical Practice: Useful Conceptions of Professional Learning

Problem solving as a pedagogical practice is a recent focus of mathematics education research and of professional learning. This study employs the phenomenographic framework for studying teachers’ conceptions of ongoing professional learning opportunities focused on the teaching of mathematics through problem solving. Eleven grade 7 to 8 school teachers who participated in ongoing professional learning over the course of one to five years were purposively selected. Survey method was employed. Findings from the study reveal that most teachers view professional learning mainly as a source for ideas and resources, whereas others hold more complex views ranging from viewing professional learning as an opportunity for sharing strategies with colleagues, to seeing professional learning as an opportunity for deepening understandings of learning, and as a catalyst for change in practices of teaching mathematics. The study recommends teacher professional development programs to focus on developing more sophisticated conceptions of professional learning among teachers

Teaching through Mathematics Problems: Re-designed for a Focus on Mathematics

Recent research on problem solving explores its potential as a pedagogical practice. This emphasis rejuvenates the interest in problem solving as a learning activity. This paper presents the practice of using a selected problem together with its variants in a single lesson. The practice was implemented in middle school classroom settings with gifted students and with mixed ability students as well as in teacher education classrooms. Experiences from practice are used to illustrate that the use of a set of closely related problems is likely to make students more eager to share their solutions, to generate several solution strategies, and to show various connections among the ideas involved. The shift toward exploring multiple math strategies and representations, and big ideas is at the center of innovative and successful approaches to teaching mathematics. The paper is guided by an evaluation of literature that considers teaching through problem solving and of literature on complex professional tasks