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This content will become publicly available on August 20, 2026

Title: I Was Scared and Excited to Do The Work: Rehumanizing Mathematics through Lesson Study at a Latine-Serving Institution
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.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
1953472
PAR ID:
10636687
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ; ;
Publisher / Repository:
Emerald Insight
Date Published:
Journal Name:
International journal for lesson and learning studies
Volume:
14
Issue:
5
ISSN:
2046-8253
Page Range / eLocation ID:
73-88
Subject(s) / Keyword(s):
Professional development Identity Mathematics education Rehumanizing mathematics
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
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