A Topic I'd Like to Explore: Social Justice Math

As a special education teacher in a math inclusion classroom, I have often wondered about the thought process (in the minds of teachers) that goes into the design of hands-on projects for students. I do like the idea of incorporating project-based learning into the curriculum. Many students work best with activities beyond paper and pencil. With hands-on projects, they get the opportunity to use their other “intelligences,” such as tactile, kinesthetic and intrapersonal. Students also can see “real-life” applications of their classroom lessons. My problem, however, is that often the project itself is rather shallow and meaningless.

Now, I am all for fun projects that engage my students. For example, in math, let’s create a cookbook using what we’ve learned about ratios to convert recipes to the serving sizes we need. Let’s create a “Sim” life in which we use basic math operations as well as higher-level thinking skills to balance a checkbook, pay our bills and negotiate shortages in our monthly budgets and brainstorm temporary and long-term solutions to those shortfalls. Let’s interpret distance and scale on a map to plan a virtual trip. These are all clever ways to encourage full engagement of students.

But why can’t math be used to interpret the world? Why can’t it change the world or the least the way we view it? Aren’t we taught that change is good?

Buzz words of the past – “crossing the curriculum” come to my mind at this point. When we cross the curriculum, we are attempting to bring in a variety of curriculum areas for thematic learning. I will never forget the HORRIBLE attempt at crossing the curriculum I witnessed at a middle school several years ago. A grade-level team of teachers created a series of projects centered on the Holocaust. They attempted to have students apply their knowledge of graphing to Holocaust statistics. Students were given the task of creating a variety of graphs using statistical information such as deaths per camp, methods of death, and other information. These young middle-schoolers created happy little bar graphs, pie charts and, worst of all, pictograms with this grim information. The charts were plastered on the hallway walls as a fine presentation of thematic learning. Only after a teacher brought it to the team leader’s attention did anyone consider the insensitive way this information was used, to say nothing of the complete lack of critical thinking skills that went into the completion of this project.

But that is a bad example. What are good examples of using math to interpret the world and affect positive change?

Here’s a term I’d never heard of until last week, when a fellow student in our class suggested an area to explore for our inquiry project. SOCIAL JUSTICE MATH: the integrating of political, economical and social justice into math classes. It is a “political lens” through which we can teach, learn and apply mathematical concepts.

In exploring social justice math through various websites, several questions come to mind:

-How can math be used to analyze and change the world?

-How can math encourage higher-level thinking skills?

-How can social justice issues be integrated into a math curriculum without sacrificing math content?

-How can math help deepen students’ understanding of social and economic issues, at home and afar?

-How can math empower students to be active citizens in their communities and beyond?

-In what ways can math be used to problem-solve local issues and projects?

-How has math literacy been a gatekeeper to educational and personal success?

-How do race and class issues affect the teaching and learning of math?


I am very interested in how social justice math can be incorporated into urban education to enliven math and empower students to connect to the world. The main goal, in my estimation? Firing up young minds to get out there and make change happen.