| This study investigated teachers' conversations around learning to teach mathematics for social justice. Building on the work of Freire and mathematics educators who work from a critical theory perspective, teaching mathematics for social justice entails students using mathematics to confront fundamental inequities in society. Students develop mathematical knowledge while engaging in the identification and analysis of inequities, taking action to confront obstacles to their success and transform their world. Skovsmose, Gutstein, Tate, and others, argue that this pedagogy can be a critical force in addressing inequity in mathematics education. Although examples exist of teachers teaching mathematics for social justice, there exists little research examining mathematics teachers learning to teach for social justice.;Eight secondary mathematics teachers engaged collaboratively in a version of lesson study to develop, implement, observe, revise, and re-teach mathematics lessons incorporating social justice goals during a 4-month professional development course. Teachers were split into two groups. For each, I analyzed teachers' pre- and post-seminar interviews, their interactions during the course, their written lesson plans, and their written reflections in response to questions I gave them.;Across both groups, teachers' conceptualized teaching mathematics for social justice as students gaining awareness of social issues through critical examination of their world, challenging students to the point that they would feel empowered to take action and transform their world. An important component that was missing from teachers' conceptions, however, was that teaching mathematics for social justice is fundamentally about students learning mathematics. Rather, teachers' conversations suggested that students should know the necessary mathematics first, and then use that knowledge to learn about social justice issues. Instantiating conceptions of teaching mathematics for social justice in practice proved difficult for teachers. Teachers struggled to balance teaching mathematics and teaching for social justice. Selection of appropriate data to support the social justice goals of the lessons was problematic for teachers. Teachers also grappled with reconciling their personal lives with discussions of social justice, and with whether and how to open one's classroom to discussions of racism. |
