Abstract
In teaching and learning mathematics, the challenge has always been giving the subject a more realistic approach as well as providing students with opportunities to investigate and discover math concepts. Historically, teachers spend vast amounts of time talking and lecturing students, giving the subject a more banking approach rather than a problem-posing approach. Such results were confirmed by Boaler and Staples’s study (2008) in which they concluded, “48% of the [class] time students were practicing methods in their books, working individually, and students presented work for approximately 0.2% of the time” (p. 619). There has been a lack of a problem-based approach to teaching mathematics, but more importantly, there has been a lack of giving the mathematics the opportunity to shine as a tool for students to become quantitatively literate. The Social Math Literacy Project opens doors to the educational community to explore and become aware of the social challenges in the students’ everyday lives and to grasp these challenges rather than ignore them through mathematics. Sources of Information The project was created using H. Freudenthal’s ideas of Realistic Mathematics Education (RME) that focus on teaching mathematics as a human activity and Freire’s problem-posing education as the practice of freedom. I created a professional development that approaches a problem-based mathematics with a social justice emphasis, transforming RME problems into problems that will ensure social discourse in math classes as well as achievement of math skills. Conclusions Reached As I researched and learned about the importance of teaching and learning mathematics with a problem-based focus, I also learned about the lack of a more social justice approach to education in general. A problem-centered mathematics curriculum can serve as a means to achieving democratic values that will eventually translate to a more tolerant, peaceful, and empathetic society. In other words, a curriculum, such as the one developed in this project, that respects students’ funds of knowledge, their home cultures, and their intelligences will ensure their success as individuals in a changing, demanding, and dynamic society.