| The epidemic of African American and Latino students' lack of success in mathematics has been puzzling researchers (Gutstein, Lipman, Hernandez, and de los Reyes, 1997; Ladson-Billings, 1991, 1995, 2000) in the field of mathematics education. Many researchers have identified that a problem does exist, however, solutions have yet to resolve the emerging problems for the African American and Latino student. Such a pedagogy as social justice has attempted to address the crisis of low achievement of African American and Latino students in mathematics.;The current study utilized a nontraditional mathematics education research structure, situated cognition theory, as a theoretical framework, that was most appropriate for the implementation of the social justice activity. The purpose of the research was to investigate the instructional implications of social justice pedagogy on the teaching of mathematics. How does social justice pedagogy impact African American and Latino preservice teachers' views of the important of mathematics? How does social justice pedagogy influence African American and Latino preservice teachers' positions about mathematics?;The results indicated that social justice activities provided a way for students to solve real world issues related to African Americans and Latinos. The preservice teachers also pointed out that they would consider implementing social justice activities into their classroom. Also, the questionnaire and the audiotape represented consistent data regarding the research questions. The participants in the study indicated that due to the social justice activity, they have gained an understanding of the importance of mathematics and they have established a fondness for mathematics due to the social justice activity. |
