Date of Award
3-2023
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Organizational Unit
Morgridge College of Education, Teaching and Learning Sciences, Curriculum and Instruction
First Advisor
Brette Garner
Second Advisor
Paul Michalec
Third Advisor
P. Bruce Uhrmacher
Fourth Advisor
Bin Ramke
Keywords
Culturally relevant, Education, Mathematics, Social justice, Social justice math, Social justice mathematics
Abstract
Teaching mathematics for social justice is a distinctive approach to mathematics education that seeks to have students use mathematics to navigate their identities, understand their lived experiences, examine inequities, and become agents of change. Current research provides a rich explanation of what teaching mathematics for social justice entails. Still, there is a need for research that studies how to move from theory to practice. The purpose of this research study is to examine the experience of teaching mathematics for social justice within my fifth-grade mathematics classroom for myself and my students, analyze the extent to which students’ ethnic and academic identities are impacted, and analyze the extent to which their mathematical achievement is impacted. This study also investigates what emerges from combining the methods of action research and auto-criticism. This research employs methods from action research and auto-criticism, such as journaling, student interviews, and pretest-posttest data.
Findings show that in my own experience with teaching mathematics for social justice, I redefined my pedagogical beliefs and responsibility, reconciled tensions between institutional expectations and my commitment to teaching math for social justice, and established a community of social justice mathematicians. Analysis of the students’ experience with learning mathematics for social justice demonstrates that students reconceptualized the purpose of mathematics and reconceptualized their place in the world as their ethnic identity, academic identity, and math achievement progressed. Finally, findings show that merging action research and auto-criticism results in a more complete understanding of how teaching mathematics for social justice impacts the classroom ecology. Ultimately, this study provides an in-depth look into the experience of teaching mathematics for social justice in an elementary classroom.
Publication Statement
Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.
Rights Holder
Krystal Giles
Provenance
Received from ProQuest
File Format
application/pdf
Language
en
File Size
250 pgs
Recommended Citation
Giles, Krystal, "Moving from Theory to Practice: Examining Teaching Mathematics for Social Justice in an Elementary School Classroom" (2023). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 2171.
https://digitalcommons.du.edu/etd/2171
Copyright date
2023
Discipline
Mathematics education, Middle school education, Multicultural education
Included in
Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education Commons, Curriculum and Instruction Commons, Elementary Education Commons, Science and Mathematics Education Commons, Social and Philosophical Foundations of Education Commons, Social Justice Commons