Closer to Fair:
Social Justice in Mathematics
Mathematics for Social Justice
Dr. David T. Kung
St. Mary's College of Maryland
(’00 Gold Dot)
Two ActsAct 1 – Social Justice in Mathematics
How can we make our classrooms / institutions / profession more just?Act 2 – Mathematics of Social Justice
How can we teach students to fight for social justice now and in the future?
Act 1 – Social Justice in Mathematics
Imagine this is a math class on your campus. The professor is teaching Calculus. The mostly white students sit quietly listening/texting/sleeping. A student walks in late.
Where does the student sit?
… the student is: President of the Math Club? an African-American male who never talks to
the other students? a 50 year old, Hispanic woman, returning to
college to be a high school teacher? a first-generation woman, who wasn’t sure if
she wanted to be a math major?
Where does the student sit if…
Act 1 – Social Justice in Mathematics
Equal treatment of students
≠
Equal Experience for students
“Dave doesn’t treat his students equally, he treats them fairly.”
- anonymous student
Equal vs. Fair
Act 1 – Social Justice in Mathematics
Act 1 – Social Justice in Mathematics
Q: How are we doing keeping students in STEM?
Source: NSFBachelor's degrees awarded, by field, citizenship, and race/ethnicity of recipients: 1995–2004www.nsf.gov/statistics/nsf07308/content.cfm?pub_id=3633&id=2
1987
1989
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
0.0%
1.0%
2.0%
3.0%
4.0%
5.0%
6.0%
7.0%
8.0%
Science Degrees as Proportion of All Undergraduate Degrees
Biology
Chemistry
Comp. Sci.
Math
Physics
Engineering
Year
Pe
rce
nt
of
All
De
gre
es
Q: How are we doing with women in STEM?
Act 1 – Social Justice in Mathematics
19
87
19
89
19
90
19
91
19
92
19
93
19
94
19
95
19
96
19
97
19
98
20
00
20
01
20
02
20
03
20
04
20
05
20
06
0.0%
10.0%
20.0%
30.0%
40.0%
50.0%
60.0%
70.0%
Gender of Undergraduate Majors - by Field
All Fields
Science & Eng.
Biology
Chemistry
Comp. Sci.
Math
Physics
Engineering
Year
Pe
rce
nta
ge
of
Wo
me
n
Q: How are we doing with minorities in STEM?
Act 1 – Social Justice in Mathematics
1987
1989
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
0.0%
2.0%
4.0%
6.0%
8.0%
10.0%
12.0%
14.0%
16.0%
18.0%
20.0%
Underrepresented Majors - by Field
All Fields
Science & Eng.
Biology
Chemistry
Comp. Sci.
Math
Physics
Engineering
Year
Pe
rce
nta
ge
of
Un
de
rre
pre
se
nte
d S
tud
en
ts
1987
1989
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
0.0%
2.0%
4.0%
6.0%
8.0%
10.0%
12.0%
14.0%
16.0%
Demographics of Mathematics Majors
All Underrepresented Minorities
Black, non-Hispanic
Hispanic
HBCU
Year
Per
cen
tag
e o
f al
l Mat
h M
ajo
rs
Q: How are we doing with minorities in math?
Act 1 – Social Justice in Mathematics
13.4%
14.8%
Why do minority students fail in Calculus?
(Uri Treisman, UC-Berkeley, 1970’s)
Common guesses: Poor preparation Lack of motivation Lack of family support Socio-economic forces
Data: These guesses are all wrong.
Act 1 – Social Justice in Mathematics
Stereotype Threat (Steele & Aronson)
Q: What affects underrepresented students’ performance?
A: The thought that they are underrepresented.
Act 1 – Social Justice in Mathematics
What do the data say?
We lose women and minorities in math and the science at every step of the pipeline from middle school through professorships, even when controlling for: preparation Motivation
Act 1 – Social Justice in Mathematics
The problem isn’t them, it’s us.
Act 1 – Social Justice in Mathematics
What can we do in college math departments? Take responsibility for how students
experience your classroom Be aware of gender/race issues Emerging Scholars Programs Women in math programs (Carleton,
Nebraska, Georgetown) Get your students to support each other Be a mentor
Act 1 – Social Justice in Mathematics
Lessons of Emerging Scholars Programs Students rise to meet academic challenges Social interactions impact academic
performance
Two ActsAct 1 – Social Justice in Mathematics
How can we make our classrooms / institutions / profession more just?Act 2 – Mathematics of Social Justice
How can we teach students to fight for social justice now and in the future?
Sample Activity:
Annual Hospital Report
Administrator: 90% of patients who spend the night check out within a week.
Nurses: 80% of the patients in the hospital right now have been here over a year!
Can they both be right?
Act 2 – Mathematics for Social Justice
Both can be right!
Similar statistics hold for people:• welfare• unemployed• without health insurance
Your agenda determines the statistics you use!
Act 2 – Mathematics for Social Justice
What our students need:
Global Temps and
CO2 emissions
positively correlated
(corr. coeff. = 0.86)
What does this
mean?
(www.skepticalscience.com)
Act 2 – Mathematics for Social Justice
What our students need:
McCain: "Sen. Obama's secret that you don't know is that his tax increases will increase taxes on 50 percent of small business revenue.“
Obama: "Only a few percent of small businesses make more than $250,000 a year. So the vast majority of small businesses would get a tax cut under my plan." "98 percent of small businesses make less than $250,000"
Can you reconcile these statements or is one of them lying?
Act 2 – Mathematics for Social Justice
What we give them: Precalculus (toward what end?) Consumer Math (student = consumer) Watered-down hard math (4th dim., infinity)
Act 2 – Mathematics for Social Justice
Act 2 – Mathematics for Social Justice
Another way:
Mathematics for Social Justice
(math to improve the world)
Act 2 – Mathematics for Social Justice
Math for Social Justice Models: Writing-intensive First Year Seminar (Lisa
Marano) Service Learning (Rob Root) Survey of Math Course w/ Projects (me) Statistics (Lily Khadjavi) Incorporating SJ issues into existing classes
(climate change calculus – Tom Pfaff)
Overview of Math for Social Justice (MFSJ) Other implementations SMCM
Sample Activities Correlation (fast food and obesity) Lorenz Curve / Gini Coefficient (wealth
distribution)
Brainstorming activities Add social justice issues to your class Issues – find the math Math content – connect it to issues
Teaching Mathematics for Social Justice
Math 131 - Survey of Mathematics: Mathematics for Social Justice
(TR, 2pm, Kung)
In this section of Survey we will use mathematics to better understand justice, fairness, and equality. Then we will use that new knowledge to improve the world.
Teaching Mathematics for Social Justice
Math for Social Justice goals: Develop the ability to question numbers Develop the inclination to question numbers Knowledgably participate in our democracy Be an effective activist Positive last math course
Teaching Mathematics for Social Justice
Math for Social Justice course topics: Quantitative literacy Large Numbers Percentages Statistics Distributions (wealth, health care spending, etc.) Surveys Voting Financial mathematics
Teaching Mathematics for Social Justice
What the Numbers Say, Niederman & Boyum
10 Habits of Highly Effective Quantitative Thinkers
1. Only Trust Numbers
2. Never Trust Numbers
3. Play Jeopardy (what
question does the # answer?)
4. Pareto’s Law
…
Teaching Mathematics for Social Justice
Reading the News
Idea: practice questioning numbers (inclination)
Early in Semester: A’s: post article, highlight numbers B’s: post questions about the numbers
End of the Semester: A’s: post article, questions B’s: use outside resources to answer those
questions
Teaching Mathematics for Social Justice
Semester Projects: Use Math to Improve the World
Proposal: each student proposes a project, pitches it to the class
Voting: students rank top 10
Groups of 2-4 carry out project, write paper, present work.
Teaching Mathematics for Social Justice
Semester Projects:
Ideal: use math to improve the world
Examples: solar water heating on dorms free trade products in coffee shop campus composting program fair funding of public schools video game about credit cards
Teaching Mathematics for Social Justice
Questions on Math for Social Justice Classes?
(at SMCM or elsewhere)
Coming soon… Sample activities Brainstorming your own activities
Teaching Mathematics for Social Justice
Sample Activities:
Fast Food and Obesity Lorenz Curves and Gini Coefficents
Teaching Mathematics for Social Justice
Brainstorm your own activities:
How could you add social justice content into your current classes?
What social justice issues are important to your students? What mathematics could you leverage with those issues?
Take a particular mathematical topic. Find a social justice angle that addresses this topic.
Teaching Mathematics for Social Justice
Resources: Tom Pfaff’s Sustainability Page
(faculty.ithaca.edu/tpfaff/) Creating Balance Conference (Oct. 2010)
(creatingbalanceconference.org/) Gapminder (www.gapminder.org/)
Teaching Mathematics for Social Justice
Rich topics: Climate change Oil production / peak oil Incarceration rates Wealth distribution Finance (credit cards) Environmental racism Renewable energy / payback times Local issues
Teaching Mathematics for Social Justice
Brainstorm your own activities:
How could you add social justice content into your current classes?
What social justice issues are important to your students? What mathematics could you leverage with those issues?
Take a particular mathematical topic. Find a social justice angle that addresses this topic.
Teaching Mathematics for Social Justice