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1. An elaboration on master narratives in mathematics and how undergraduates relate to counternarratives

   Melhuish, Kathleen; Guajardo, Lino; Lew, Kristen; Dawkins, Paul C; Roh, Kyeong_Hah (November 2024, Kent State University)

   Kosko, K W; Caniglia, J; Courtney, S A; Zolfaghari, M; Morris, G A (Ed.)

   Because the master narratives about mathematics in the US often play an exclusionary role in students’ educational experiences, educators have sought to integrate counternarratives into instruction that might disrupt these effects. As part of a larger project to develop a research-informed curriculum for undergraduate introduction to proof courses, we gathered author stories from a diverse set of mathematicians for students to read and reflect upon. To study student responses to these author stories, we synthesized a framework of the master narrative of mathematics in the US and identified how the author stories countered elements of this narrative. We then analyzed 80 student reflections from one introduction to proof course to identify whether and how students either endorsed or countered the elements of the master narrative. Our findings point to a positive, yet modest capacity for these stories as counternarratives. 

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2. Humanizing Proof-based Mathematics Instruction Through Experiences Reading Rich Proofs and Mathematician Stories

   https://doi.org/10.1007/s42330-025-00354-4  

   Contreras, Norman; Dawkins, Paul_Christian; Guajardo, Lino; Harris, Pamela_E; Lew, Kristen; Melhuish, Kathleen; Roh, Kyeong_Hah; Williams, II, Dwight_Anderson; Winger, Aris (April 2025, Canadian Journal of Science, Mathematics and Technology Education)

   Abstract The Reading and Appreciating Mathematical Proofs (RAMP) project seeks to provide novel resources for teaching undergraduate introduction to proof courses centered around reading activities. These reading activities include (1) reading rich proofs to learn new mathematics through proofs as well as to learn how to read proofs for understanding and (2) reading mathematician stories to humanize proving and to legitimize challenge and struggle. One of the guiding analogies of the project is thinking about learning proof-based mathematics like learning a genre of literature. We want students to read interesting proofs so they can appreciate what is exciting about the genre and how they can engage with it. Proofs were selected by eight professors in mathematics who as curriculum co-authors collected intriguing mathematical results and added stories of their experience becoming mathematicians. As mathematicians of colour and/or women mathematicians, these co-authors speak to the challenges they faced in their mathematical history, how they overcame these challenges, and the key role mentors and community have played in that process. These novel opportunities to learn to read and read to learn in the proof-based context hold promise for supporting student learning in new ways. In this commentary, we share how we have sought to humanize proof-based mathematics both in the reading materials and in our classroom implementation thereof.  

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3. I Was Scared and Excited to Do The Work: Rehumanizing Mathematics through Lesson Study at a Latine-Serving Institution

   Gutiérrez, R; Ortega, O; Lahme, B; Ford, B (August 2025, International journal for lesson and learning studies)

   Purpose: Mathematics instructors seek to address the well-being of students who are Indigenous, Black and Students of Color who have experienced mathematics classrooms as harmful spaces. Lesson study (LS), which engages multiple instructors at once, is a viable tool for enacting institutional change. This study investigates one US university mathematics and statistics department implementing a rehumanizing mathematics (RM) framework and especially how one AfroLatina member experienced the work. Changes in their instruction sought to better support Latine students in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). The study sought to understand what meaning faculty members made of their work. Design/methodology/approach: This is a case study of one university mathematics and statistics department that engaged in several cycles of LS to learn and implement the concept of RM in their classrooms. Data draw from faculty member responses to a Google Form and a 60–90 min interview. Inductive and deductive coding (Saldaña, 2012) were used to generate findings. Findings: Findings indicate mathematics and statistics department members found LS made the RM framework more tangible and actionable. Zarai found the work both exciting and scary, as she grappled with what it meant to question mathematics and center the most vulnerable students, do the work as a woman of color and feel exhausted from the work. As a case study (Yin, 2017), the findings are not generalizable. Rather, they describe the phenomenon and what were salient features for the participants (faculty members). Research limitations/implications: Limitations include that participants were surveyed and interviewed one year after receiving RM professional development and 8 months after their first LS cycle; relied upon Google survey forms and interviews where participants self-reported their experiences, and all but the first author are members of the department. To address memory issues, we returned to Padlet responses offered during the RM workshop and, during interviews, prompted participants with documents they had created in the LS cycle to jog their memories. We ameliorated department member biases by having the first author conduct interviews and lead analyses. This study raises several issues for researchers studying RM/STEM in other spaces (e.g. departments with less expertise/commitment to equity) and the role of context (e.g. university departments other than mathematics) and students (who are not Latine). It highlights the value of introducing LS to examine the learning and meaning-making for participants. Practical implications: For professional developers, understanding the range of responses that faculty members had around a single activity offers opportunities for participants to pause and reflect on their identities or the meanings they are making, which could lead to greater empathy for colleagues and practices that support their collective reflections and actions. For mathematicians/scientists interested in rehumanizing STEM, case studies of faculty members with different backgrounds and different meanings of the experience might prompt them to consider how context and identities play out locally. Social implications: Many people have experienced mathematics in dehumanizing ways. This study highlights the efforts of one mathematics/statistics department engaged in LS to rehumanize mathematics, which could help citizens identify more robust definitions of equity for themselves. Additionally, such cases could help individuals identify strategies for navigating the political and personal aspects of equity work, even if not related to mathematics. Even for those who do not share identities with people featured, case studies can highlight why colleagues might experience intense emotions around equity-oriented work, catalyze greater empathy towards them and increase collective equity commitment. Originality/value: Empirical results on LS and mathematics have centered on K–12 teaching and learning; empirical studies on RM in college and/or university settings have focused on students’ experiences. We still know little about how university instructors might make sense of the RM framework or implement it in their teaching. This is the first study of RM practiced by a university mathematics department. Understanding how university mathematicians made sense of an LS model for learning about RM is important both for understanding how LS influenced the learning and application of RM and for highlighting the experiences of AfroLatina faculty. 

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4. Open-World Narrative Generation to Answer Players’ Questions

   https://doi.org/10.1609/aiide.v18i1.21981  

   Siler, Cory (October 2022, Proceedings of the AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Interactive Digital Entertainment)

   Planning-based narrative generation is effective at producing stories with a logically-sound flow of events, but it can be limiting due to the rigidity of its constraints and the high burden on the domain author to define story-world objects, initial states, and author and character goals. Giving the system the freedom to add objects and events to the story-world history arbitrarily can improve variety and reduce authorial burden, but risks leading to stories that seem jarringly contrived to the audience. I propose to use question-answering as the antidote to contrivance in a highly-generative interactive narrative system: By modeling the player's beliefs about the story world, inferring the implicit questions the player may be asking through their interactions, and answering those questions in a way consistent with the player's prior knowledge, a system could focus on creating cohesion in the ways that matter most to the player while accepting a degree of contrivance in the details that the player is likely to overlook. 

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5. Field-Based Perspectives on Enacting Alternatives to Ability Grouping in Elementary Mathematics Instruction

   Webel, C. (August 2021, Mathematics teacher education and development)

   Ability grouping is a common practice in elementary mathematics instruction, but some research suggests that grouping by ability can exacerbate existing inequities, and there is evidence that alternatives to grouping can improve learning experiences for all students. In this paper, we describe an effort to support teachers in using equitable teaching practices that was part of an Elementary Mathematics Specialist (EMS) certification program at a public university in the United States. We employ multiple perspectives in our collaborative action research approach: the first author was the director of the EMS program, the second author was a graduate researcher working to support the program, and the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth authors were all teachers in the program. We start by introducing efforts to address equity from the perspective of program designers, including specific activities used during a Summer Institute to prompt consideration of alternatives to ability grouping. Then we share several experiences of reducing ability grouping from the perspectives of four teachers who were participants in the program, noting successes and challenges. We conclude with implications for research and practice. 

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