Introduction

Students will join with others around the world in examining their own lives and communities and broader issues relating to social justice and equality from a mathematical perspective.

In many countries, math traditionally has been studied on its own or linked in the curriculum with science. This project explores the possibilities of linking math to other areas of the curriculum including social studies and language arts. To register, please see the project time line and use the attached form to send us your name and other contact information.

The flexible activities which follow are organized in categories from which teachers and students may choose. We encourage each class to participate in one introductory activity and one activity linking math to a social concern or issue of equality.

Introductory Activities

1. WHAT MATHEMATICS MEANS TO ME

(Product: A collage.) In this activity the students consider their attitudes and thoughts about mathematics, the role that math plays in their lives, or how they might use numeric data to describe themselves and their families. They then cut out numbers, symbols, or other text or graphics from newspapers, magazines or other publications.

After arranging and pasting these figures onto a piece of paper or cardboard to create a collage, the students write about their work in a paragraph entitled "What Mathematics Means to Me".

2. EVERYDAY MATH IN MY COMMUNITY

(Product: Report describing an interview. Or alternatively, student-written math story problems based on the ways their families use math.) The students interview a relative or other adult in their community about how they use mathematics in their job, daily life, or studies. Encourage students to ask questions about the specific ways in which math is used, e.g. making calculations, handling money, creating budgets, taking measurements, analyzing numeric data, etc. Students then write a report or create math word problems for their peers based on the information they gathered.

3. AN IDEA OF YOUR OWN TO INTRODUCE YOURSELVES

Some classes will want to move right into the activities linking math to equity issues and social concerns. Feel free to send a brief message telling how math is taught at your school, and/or a successful or innovative math activity your class has done.
 
 

4. STATISTICS AND SOCIETY

(Product: Analysis of a graph or chart showing statistical or numeric data.) In this activity the students create or find a graph or chart depicting some kind of numeric data or statistics on a theme of interest. This might include themes related to social, political, scientific, or environmental issues. After creating or finding the graph or chart the students explain the information that it conveys and write about the implications they think the data projects.

(Note: it is important to have a written description and analysis of the data so we can exchange the information on the network.)

Another approach to this activity, which can be used successfully with students of any age, is for students or teachers to take informal opinion polls in their classes. Students tally the responses and calculate ratios or percentages. Then they describe in their own words, being as explicit as possible, the findings and implications. Finally they can create bar or pie graphs to represent and share their findings. Encourage students to address questions of concern to the school and community, analyze the responses by age, gender or other characteristics of the respondents, and write about their findings in the school newspaper.

5. PROMOTING EQUITY AT OUR SCHOOL SITE

(Product: Report on the actions students have taken in their communities or schools to promote greater equity, including a brief summary of the data and analysis on which those actions were based.) Have students analyze all the biographies in the school library on the basis of gender, race, class or disability. Students then categorize these and use percentages, fractions, and bar graphs to help them describe the library's biography collection. After students have gathered the information and analyzed the collection, they can be encouraged to explore why the numbers are as they are. Assist your class in understanding how publishing and power work.

Next, ask students how they think and feel about the people and groups in the books and also how their research influences the way they think about themselves. For example, when girls have gone through books and found only a certain number of women doing "important things", what does that say to them about themselves and what does that say to boys about their own importance? We can expand on that when we ask what does it mean when very few of the people, men or women are Latino, Asian, or African American.

Finally, students take action to address issues of representation at their school site. Encourage students to find out who has the power to make decisions about which books are selected for publication and which books are selected for purchase by the school.

Students might write letters to educational publishers. They can also work with the librarian, administration, and the PTA, to encourage a more diverse collection of books and ensure that a broader range of educators, students, and community members are included in future decision-making. Variations include:
 

a. Students use CD ROM encyclopedias in their classrooms or libraries to gather data on the length of the selections for many famous people, based on their gender, and race.

b. A group of students tours the school to collect and graph data on the images that appear on the school and classroom walls. Whose pictures and words are portrayed? Students analyze the data on the basis of gender, race, class or disability, comparing percentages of voices and images represented in each category with the population in their class, at their school site, in their state, and in their country.

c. Students analyze entire newspaper stories. They can outline in one color all the stories about violence and crime, for example, and use another color to outline stories about people working for justice and peace. Similarly, one can highlight how many times people of color are featured in stories of crime or drug-addiction, and how many times they are portrayed positively.

d. Students look at front-page photos for one month in three major dailies to record what percentage of front-page photo subjects are women or people of color and when they do appear how they are represented, i.e. as athletes, criminals, victims, or representatives of government or business.

In each case, encourage students to use math skills of simple computation, averages, percents, and graphing to create displays on bulletin boards. Be sure to ask students to consider how these images affect the way they feel and how the decisions are made about which images or stories appear. Students can then take action against any inequities they might discover by writing to the newspapers or publishers and using their findings to teach younger children about the bias they detected.

Acknowledgments

This project was inspired by an article entitled "Teaching Math Across The Curriculum" by Bob Peterson which was published in the Fall, 1995 edition of Rethinking Schools. The ideas in Section 4 (Detecting Bias at Your School Site) were developed by Bob Peterson, an editor of Rethinking Schools and Rethinking Our Classrooms, and by FAIR (Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting), a media watchdog group based in New York. We would like to recognize Enid Figueroa for her coordination of this project in Puerto Rican schools. We'd also like to thank the many other educators from Puerto Rico, Canada, and the U.S. who have helped shape this project.

How to Participate

Participants: All ages and languages welcome.

Dates: SEPTEMBER, 1998 - APRIL, 1999

Registration and introduction: September - November 4, 1998

Optional Selection of Sister Class by: November 4, 1998

Project activities: November 1, 1998 - April 1, 1999

Registration: Please sign up by sending the registration form via e-mail to: orillas-math@igc.org

Send writing to: iearn.math conference

For more information:

Please contact Kristin Brown, 1801 SS Bar Road, Hornbrook, CA 96044

E-mail: orillas-math@igc.org or krbrown@igc.org