Mathematics Teacher Educator Podcast

Episode 57: Dilemmas and Design Principles in Planning for Justice-Oriented Community-Based Mathematical Modeling Lessons

October 24th, 2023  |  Season 14  |  34 mins 36 secs

This article details the development of design principles to support teachers in planning for a Community-Based Mathematical Modeling task with a focus on social justice in the elementary grades. By reflecting on the dilemmas we encountered in the design and enactment of the tasks, we developed five design principles that allowed us to address issues of social justice as well as attend to powerful mathematical ideas to bring awareness and take action around a local problem. Through our article, we hope to share with mathematics teacher educators
design principles to help plan for tasks with pre- and in-service teachers that prioritize connecting mathematics to social issues and empower both teachers and students to take action to make a positive impact in the community.

Episode 56: Are We Preparing Agents of Change or Instruments of Inequity? Teaching Toward Antiracist Mathematics Teacher Education

October 11th, 2023  |  Season 14  |  34 mins 13 secs

equity; social justice; teaching & learning instruction; preservice teacher training; math methods course

The authors began this work with the understandings that (a) there is no “neutral” when it comes to the teaching of mathematics, and (b) mathematics teacher educators need to do something to help produce teachers of mathematics that develop students’ relationships with mathematics and push against the inequities that exist both within and outside of the classrooms in which they will teach. In response, the authors created, deployed, and studied a learning module in an attempt to enact antiracist mathematics teacher education. The learning module activities, the findings about the learning from the prospective teachers who engaged in the module, and messages for mathematics teacher educators who want to engage in this work are shared.

Episode 54: “Rahul is a Math Nerd” and “Mia Can Be a Drama Queen”: How Mixed-Reality Simulations Can Perpetuate Racist and Sexist Stereotypes

September 12th, 2023  |  Season 14  |  36 mins 55 secs

mixed-reality simulation; discourse analysis; equity; stereotype

This article focuses on using simulations of practice in teacher education. We studied preservice teachers’ engagement with a popular simulations platform, which creates mixed-reality simulations of five digital avatars controlled by a single live interactor. Because simulations are only an approximation of real practice, our overarching goal was to understand how mathematical stereotypes might arise in simulated spaces. We used Discourse analysis to classify the stereotypes present and the EQUIP observation tool to understand how PTs made participation opportunities available. We found that the simulations might have perpetuated
overtly racist and sexist stereotypes and that negatively stereotyped students were afforded lower-quality opportunities to participate. We discuss how to mitigate potential harm caused and offer guidance for redesigning more equitable and antiracist simulations. Our goal is to raise critical questions for our field around the use of simulations of practice.

Episode 55: When Only White Students Talk: EQUIP-ing Prospective Teachers to Notice Inequitable Participation

September 12th, 2023  |  Season 14  |  21 mins 25 secs

noticing; race; gender; equity; number talk

We introduce a teacher learning practice called EQUIP-ing, which aims to foster sociopolitical noticing by leveraging EQUIP, an equity-oriented classroom observation tool. We detail our iterations of EQUIP-ing to a field-based Number Talk experience in a secondary mathematics methods course with 25 White prospective teachers (PTs). We offer empirical accounts of how EQUIP-ing empowered PTs to connect their teaching practices with racialized and gendered patterns of student participation; as a result, PTs began to reconsider taken-for-granted practices. However, we also found that PTs demonstrated potentially detrimental ways of attributing marginalizing patterns to minoritized students without actionable plans to redress the inequity. We conclude by inviting mathematics teacher educators to apply EQUIP-ing while emphasizing purposeful support for asset-based noticing.