When cultures collide: Preparing to teach mathematics to culturally diverse students.

ABSTRACT

Mathematics education research has acknowledged the role of culture in teaching and learning, and specifically how mathematics classrooms create a context that legitimizes or invalidates various forms of knowledge. Mathematics teacher educators (MTEs) have a responsibility to expose prospective teachers (PSTs) to the different ways students’ reason about and learn mathematics and teach them how to build on students’ mathematical and cultural backgrounds. This preparation must help PSTs recognize their own cultural socialization and understand how this affects their attitudes and behaviors toward other ethnic group cultures in mathematics education. In this session, I present preliminary finding from CAM Up! (Cultural Awareness in Mathematics Unit Project), a cross-site research study that seeks to illuminate PSTs’ interests, perspectives, and dispositions toward teaching mathematics to culturally diverse student populations. I will share PSTs’ views on culture in mathematics education, with particular attention to their deficit perspectives/stereotypes about students and their families. I argue that MTEs must help PSTs acknowledge and challenge these views while they are in teacher preparation programs. Only then will we develop PSTs’ cultural consciousness, enabling them to build safe cultural spaces for students to learn mathematics.

Key words: Culture, teacher education, equity, dispositions.

(Este Seminario se realizará en inglés y sin traducción simultánea)

Posted on Mar 20, 2021 in Education, Seminars