RUME 26
2024
Omaha, Nebraska
Proportional Reasoning as a Tool to Understand Structural Racism in a Senior Capstone Course
Page: 1401
Proportional reasoning is foundational to understanding and communicating about issues of equity, fairness, and (in)justice. Yet, many students learn about mathematics and proportional reasoning in decontextualized ways, obscuring the role that mathematics can play in examining and impacting issues of social justice. We developed a lesson for a synchronous online university senior capstone course in which students explored claims in newspaper articles about the election of Indigenous Congresspeople through making sense of proportions. Our research question is to what extent do students see mathematics as connected to social justice issues after the lesson? Students did connect their mathematical learning to social justice, recognizing that mathematics can help them make sense of the world and advocate for change.