Response: Math that matters -- social justice & the math curriculum

•Is mathematics 'neutral', or is it connected with social/ environmental justice?

I think it is connected with social / environmental justice.  We all live in our community, in our society. No one can ever be truly independent. Some people may say they live alone. But every time they buy something and every time they use any product, they already connect with other people. So I think connections are everywhere in our world. And numbers or math will be so powerful when it connects with social / environmental justice. People will be impressed by a series of numbers and realize how serious social and environmental problems are. I think math could give people a more straightforward impression and that is why scholars usually list numbers as supports to prove their points.  

•What are your ideas about the author's intentions in writing this textbook?

I think it is very impressive to connect math world with social / environmental justice. This article really makes me think about the relationship between math class and social/ environmental justice. Before going through this article, I feel social and environmental justice will be a good topic in English or Society Study class. And I never think about how we can apply this topic in math class. But now, I believe social and environmental justice issues could have a place in the math class as well.  I think it is difficult and impossible in some ways for us to design a prefect project to solve all social and environmental problems. But it worth trying. As teachers, I think we should give chances to students and let them know how serious these problems are.

•Can these ideas from middle school math inspire teaching ideas for your secondary math classes?

Yes, I think these ideas will be useful in secondary math classes as well. I believe if we show students how numbers are used and manipulated in real world and connect math with social and environmental issues, we could help students think more critically about the mathematics show in their lives and go deeper to explore some problems’ answers in real world as well.

•Are there topics in mathematics that are more or less possible to connect with social justice issues?

Yes, I think there are some topics in math are more possible to connect with social and environmental issues. For instance, I think analyzing data and statistics could help people show these issues more straightforward.  And introducing some problems in financial topic will also be helpful for students to connect math world with real world.