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We discuss a professional development activity that engaged university mathematics instructors with anti-deficit teaching with minoritized students in the US. Our year-long program focuses on anti-deficit teaching and inquiry-based learning in mathematics at the university level. One important component of the program is an instructor-led interview with one of the instructor’s students. This activity is inspired by Funds of Knowledge work wherein primary and secondary mathematics teachers conduct home visits to learn about resources from the students’ lives and their families. Using data from two cohorts of participants we argue that the instructor-led interview within our project similarly humanized students, challenged deficit narratives about them, while also revealing their personal and community resources. Instructors learned about minoritized students’ experiences in higher education in the US. These individual stories also become great fodder for instructors’ group discussions and reflections about inequities and nuances in the experiences of minoritized students. We conclude with a methodological discussion about the interview as a professional development activity.
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Measuring high school students' funds of knowledge for learning mathematics
Mathematics experienced by students can be derived from the contextually situated “real world” experiences of the educator, which is typically White and middle class and not a reflection of the demographics of many classrooms in the United States. Activities where students find connections to their lives and interests have shown promise in enhancing student performance and experiences in mathematics classrooms. In this study, mathematics funds of knowledge are assessed in a novel survey instrument, reinforcing the salience of relating math experiences to students’ lives and acknowledging skills and knowledge originating from experiences outside of the math classroom.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1759195
- PAR ID:
- 10166200
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Proceedings of the 42nd annual meeting of the North American Chapter of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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