A collaboration between mathematics teacher educators at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, North Carolina State University, and Pennsylvania State University aims to challenge the perception that mathematics teaching and learning is a one-size-fits-all approach through work on a new grant-funded project. The project began with initial exploration by the Mathematics Teacher Education Partnership's [MTEP] Equity and Social Justice Working Group [ESJWG].
“The Design and Refinement of Modules for Raising Critical Consciousness in Undergraduate Mathematics Teacher Preparation” is funded by a $399,041 National Science Foundation Improving Undergraduate STEM Education grant awarded to Lorraine Males, Julie & Henry Bauermeister associate professor of mathematics education in the UNL Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education and Nebraska MTEP leader; Cyndi Edgington, associate teaching professor in the NCSU College of Education and North Carolina MTEP co-leader; Robin Anderson and Ruby Ellis, assistant professors of mathematics education in the NCSU COE; and Ricardo Martinez, assistant professor of mathematics education at Pennsylvania State University. Travis Weiland, assistant professor of mathematics education in the curriculum and instruction department at the University of Houston and a Texas MTEP team member, was also part of the original working group that inspired the project.
The goal of the project is to advance knowledge about supporting prospective secondary mathematics teachers in developing the knowledge, skills, and dispositions to teach in ethnically diverse settings as well as to increase access to research-based resources for mathematics teacher educators.
One of the first tasks the ESJWG completed was identifying the problem and generating a plan for addressing the challenges of preparing pre-service teachers to teach in diverse settings and attend to issues of societal inequities and injustices. This work indicated several root causes that can be addressed by focusing on four change ideas: alignment, instructional resources, measures, and critical conversations. These change ideas were, in essence, the group’s drivers.
“As the ESJWG continued to work together we often found ourselves grappling with the lack of instructional resources available for MTEs to learn to do this important work with their PSTs,” Males said.
To address the lack of resources, the ESJWG formed a subgroup, which included Anderson, Weiland, Males, and Kelsey Quaisley, a former graduate student at UNL and current postdoc at Oregon State University, to attempt to use the newly published Pathway to Equitable Math Instruction (STRIDES) toolkit in their graduate courses for teachers. The subgroup also met regularly to debrief and discuss their progress and difficulties.
According to Males, in using the STRIDES toolkit and discussing successes and challenges, the subgroup realized there was much more work to be done. With the additional knowledge and experiences of Edginton, Ellis, and Martinez, the ESJWG is seeking to develop a series of modules to address critical consciousness and anti-Blackness in undergraduate teacher preparation.
“Ensuring pre-service teachers are well-prepared to teach in diverse settings and inspire all students in STEM is essential for multiple reasons. Most notably, it’s pivotal in addressing the long-standing issues of equity and inclusion in education,” Ellis told NCSU COE News. “By equipping teachers to engage students from diverse backgrounds effectively, we take a significant step toward rectifying disparities in educational opportunities and outcomes.”
Inequities in math education are persistent and can create barriers to accessing opportunities and lead to different sets of academic expectations for students of various backgrounds, Ellis said.
“For example,” Edgington said, “research shows that Black and Brown students, students with individualized educational plans (IEPs) and multilingual learners are more likely to be excluded from honors mathematics classes and placed in classrooms that are more likely to emphasize procedural learning over conceptual understanding.”
Additionally, Ellis said, the common “one-size-fits-all approach” to mathematics teaching and learning does not include accommodations for students from diverse backgrounds and can leave those students feeling disconnected and excluded from the learning process.
“This leaves these groups of students without the experiences or the desire to pursue STEM-related careers or study STEM fields at the postsecondary level,” Edgington said.
In addition, Males emphasized that “MTEs, such as myself, have to step it up with respect to addressing the ways in which we prepare teachers. We cannot idly sit by and say that before learning to address diversity and equity that PSTs ‘just need to learn to teach.’ Learning to teach involves learning to teach each and every student and address inequities. It is our responsibility as MTEs to support PSTs in understanding how to do that work.”
The NSF IUSE project team, which includes the PIs, co-PIs and Maggan Quist, a first-year doctoral student at UNL and a former secondary mathematics teacher, will use improvement science methods to design and enact a series of modules for prospective mathematics teachers, including readings, reflections and out-of-class activities to support engaged student learning. The team will be advised by Dorothy White, University of Georgia professor of mathematics, science, and social studies education, and Brian Lawler, Kennesaw State University Center for Innovation in STEM Education Research director, KSU professor of mathematics education, and KSU MTEP team leader.
Once the modules are developed, refined and enacted, they will be shared with MTEs through the MTEP 2.0 network for further refinement before being made publicly available to all MTEs.
The project team will also study the impact on PSTs by examining how participation in the modules influences their multicultural mathematics dispositions and understandings related to cultural sensitivity as well as how experiences with the modules shape critical consciousness.
“Ultimately, these modules will challenge the perception that mathematics, and mathematics learning, is one-size-fits-all. We hope these modules lead pre-service teachers to see the complexities within the discipline and multiplicities of identities in their students, to appreciate that mathematics teaching must be broadened to make room for more ideas and voices,” Anderson said.