RUME 28
2026
Alexandria, Virginia
“I Can Make a Difference Through Mathematics”: Mathematics Majors’ Conceptualizations of Justice in the Context of Teaching Mathematics for Social Justice
Page: 117
There has been a call to emphasize how mathematics can be used to tackle social issues in ways that create a more just world. Such efforts can take the form of an explicit topic, entire course, or as a call-to-action impacting communities in various manners. This study analyzed course reflections of 15 mathematics majors enrolled in a Teaching Math for Social Justice course. We used open coding and constant comparison analysis to analyze pre-class and post-class reflections to understand the ways that students conceptualized the notion of “justice”. Eight themes emerged from the data, with notable differences between the ways students described justice before and after the course, with students’ conceptualizations demonstrating change or becoming solidified after completion of the course. These findings contribute to the larger body of research that continues to investigate how mathematics students engage with incorporating social justice contexts into mathematics teaching and learning.