¡Alerta! Our World is Changing; Revealing impacts on our world with mathematics

¡Alerta! Our World Is Changing: Revealing Impacts on Our World with Mathematics

Kyndall Brown, Dee Crescitelli, Silvia Llamas-Flores, and Carlos LópezLeiva

Climate change has brought about expansive changes and has had negative global ecological and economic consequences. In addition, the widespread prevalence of environmental pollution has been exasperated by human-caused pollution, which causes devastating harm to our earth’s ecosystem. In our previous blog we discussed reciprocity as being one of the 4R’s, which describes kinship and obligation as “cyclical” or mutual (Harris & Wasileski, 2024, p. 5).  As such, we have an obligation to respect our mother Earth by limiting and/or eliminating human-caused pollution.

This blog explores littering pollution and extreme weather events, both of which, one can argue, serve as exploitation of the Earth and its resources. The intent of this blog is to highlight and raise awareness of the harmful effects of human activity on our Earth through a series of mathematical tasks and ideas designed for high school teachers. The two tasks in this blog focus on the mathematical modeling of face mask disposal and extreme weather events, both of which can be modeled by exponential functions.

In the following activities, students are tasked with doing a model analysis, creating a mathematical model that best represents the data, extrapolating, and making recommendations based on their findings. The extent of scaffolding that is needed to create and interpret the mathematical models depends on the level of experience and exposure that students have with Desmos and running different types of regressions.  The following Desmos linear regression guide is provided for your convenience.  We encourage you to make the tasks/topics your own by scaffolding the activities in ways that are conducive to your individual students’ needs.

Lastly, in addition to the two tasks, there are a series of ideas that can be used to explore other climate change topics using a mathematical lens. The hope is that teachers feel compelled to explore issues of climate change with their students and have meaningful and impactful conversations about what our responsibilities are to our Earth and ways to mitigate the damaging effects of climate change.

 

Extreme Weather 

As students engage with the topic of extreme weather, consider the following discussion topics.  The hope is to encourage students to use a mathematical lens to make informed and responsible decisions about the role of climate change on our Earth.

  • Using a mathematical argument, based on your finding above, what recommendations would you make to stakeholders about climate change?
  • If you were speaking to your high school graduating class, what message would you convey about climate change? Why? How can you use a mathematical argument to help support your message?
  • Based on the extrapolation data, what are some ways that human activity can counter climate change?

 

Activity 1

There has been a significant increase in storms and floods in the 21st century.  According to the International Disaster Database Tracking (EM-DAT), the cumulative number of natural disasters/extreme weather events in Europe since 1939 has significantly increased in recent years (Center for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (Em-Dat), n.d).

The data seems to indicate that in the past 100 years, more than 1,500 extreme weather events, including droughts, floods, storms, and extreme temperatures, have occurred in Europe, with approximately 67% of those events taking place since early 2000.

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¡Alerta, Wildfires! Our Relationship and Responsibility

¡Alerta, Wildfires! Our Relationship and Responsibility

Kyndall Brown, Silvia Llamas-Flores, Dee Crescitelli, and Carlos LópezLeiva

The TODOS Alerta! blog introduces a series of information and mathematics lessons on environmental issues that help us become aware of and rethink our collective relationship with our land and world. This blog- the second in the series- specifically explores the dangerous wildfires that have emerged around the US and practices that have been historically and culturally in place to relate our relationship with and responsibility for wildfires.

Wildland fires are classified as either naturally occurring or human-caused. According to the National Park Service, however, human-caused wildfires are significantly more common, with human involvement triggering 85% to 90% of wildfires (Frontline Wildfire Defense, 2024).

California’s dry climate provides prime conditions for a wildfire, and unfortunately, it doesn’t take much to spark a fire that can devastate an entire area.

What Causes Wildfires in California?

The most common causes of wildfires in California include:

  • Burning Debris: One of the most common causes of wildfires is embers from burning debris. Wind can carry these embers for up to 7 miles without extinguishing them.
  • Human Activity: Activities such as driving cars, pulling trailers, having a gender reveal party, or doing yard maintenance.
  • Electrical Power: Fallen power lines are the third most common cause of wildfires in California and were the cause of the deadliest fire in history—the Camp Fire. However, human activity causes far more wildfires than electrical power lines.
  • Campfires: Camping is an incredibly popular summer activity, but unfortunately, many campers don’t practice proper fire safety. As a result, unattended campfires are historically one of the leading causes of wildfires in the state. (Frontline Wildfire Defense, 2024).

Arson, lightning, discarded cigarettes, and equipment malfunctions are other events that can lead to devastating wildfires in California.

Indigenous Fire Suppression is an example of the 5 R’s in practice. The following is excerpted from a segment from NPR’s Science Friday, How Indigenous Burning Practices Could Prevent Massive Wildfires, which shares indigenous burning practices that used to be practiced prior to the removal of Native American peoples from California lands.

Those cultural burns—or prescribed burns, as they’re often called now by fire agencies—are a form of keeping wildfire in check, a practice the state and federal agencies do use, but experts say isn’t leaned on enough as a fire prevention tactic.

But what experts say is often missing from this conversation is the racist removal of Native American people from California. Along with their physical beings, the experts say that their knowledge of taking care of the land was also removed, resulting in overgrown forests.

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Our World, Our Place, Our Home, Our Responsibility

Our World, Our Place, Our Home, Our Responsibility

Carlos LópezLeiva, Silvia Llamas-Flores, Dee Crescitelli, and Kyndall Brown

Our life experiences can talk to our bodies about how the world is all interconnected. The basic elements of our world speak to us through their embodied constant collaboration or interconnectedness. Take the fire; it grows and moves, dancing with the wind. Feel the water in the rain in synchronous rhythmic movements coordinated by the wind. Admire a little cascade of water that is animated by the capricious shape of the earth and rocks under the water. Their collaboration makes the beauty of the cascades that are decorated by plants that thrive in the context where earth and water collaborate. Take the power of the fire and the earth combined to generate the most beautiful and precious colorful stones. As these collaborations take place to create beauty that we admire and use, they can also work together to change landscapes and keep the earth transforming and evolving. Earth moves, and it is alive! It works as an integrated system. This integrated system is coordinated and developed in many ways, and many of these ways are inherently mathematical.

As previously alluded to (discussed), we are all interconnected. This includes the air, water, fire, earth [and all life therein]. If we truly value all life and act according to this ethos, not only would “[earth] take care of us,” but we would do our part to “take care” of the Earth. Interconnectedness, value, and care toward the Earth and all life on Earth are Indigenous core values. Recently, these values have been referred to as either the 4 Rs (Harris & Wasileski, 2004; Kirkness & Barnhardt, 2001) or 5 Rs (Das & Strong, 2018, November 27; Dow, 2019, Summer; Tessaro et al., 2018). For example, in discussing Indigeneity and its contribution to and challenging of globalization (Harris & Wasileski, 2004), four values were identified from the many conversations by representatives of various Indigenous tribes during meetings facilitated by the Americans for Indian Opportunity, an advocacy organization that promotes self-determination of Indigenous people in the United States. The common values were Relationships, Responsibility, Reciprocity, and Redistribution. Relationships refers to our “kinship… to all living things, animals, plants, and rocks… [and] to the very stuff that stars are made of” (Harris & Wasileski, 2004, p. 4). Similarly, responsibility describes the “obligation… to take care of our relatives” (Harris & Wasileski, 2004, p. 4). Reciprocity describes kinship and obligation as “cyclical” or mutual and not one of “uneven… exchange obligations” (Harris & Wasileski, 2004, p. 5). Lastly, redistribution refers to a sharing obligation or “generosity [as] the most highly valued human quality” (Harris & Wasileski, 2004, p. 5). These 4 Rs broadly describe an ethos or a way of life that is in opposition to individualism, selfishness, the profit-motive, and exploitation of the Earth and its resources. In education settings, how have the 4 or 5 Rs been applied?

In an often-cited study, the 4 Rs were used to critique the lack of responsiveness and cultural sensitivity of indigenous students by the University of Alaska (Kirkness & Barnhardt, 2001). In this context, the 4Rs were Respect, Relevance, Reciprocal Relationships, and Responsibility. In this schooling context, these values referred to the need for faculty and staff of universities and colleges to respect the “cultural integrity” of First nations (Kirkness & Barnhardt, 2001, p. 6) to provide university experiences (content and practices) that are relevant to indigenous students and considerate of indigenous worldview; for faculty to engage in the “give-and-take” (Kirkness & Barnhardt, 2001, p. 13) exchange of knowledge (reciprocity) and learn alongside and even from First nation students; lastly, for faculty and staff to take on the responsibility for supporting Indigenous students to participate in traditional activities and for faculty and staff to attend Indigenous community events, discuss Indigenous worldviews in courses, and/or engage in outreach to Indigenous (tribes) and leaders. In this context, the expectation was for the faculty and staff of the university system to engage in practices that value and “care” for indigenous students.

Similarly, in the context of online professional development for principals of Indigenous schools across Canada (Tessaro et al., 2018), the previously discussed 4 Rs (Kirkness & Barnhardt, 2001) was expanded to 5 Rs. They decided to include Relationships because it “underlies” (Tessaro et al., 2018, p. 139) the 4 Rs. Because these researchers worked with principals, they wanted to make sure they made conscious efforts to “fortify relationships with teachers, students, family members, the local community, and the land.” (Tessaro et al., 2018, p. 139). Another example from education is how the 5 Rs were applied during K-12 science lessons (e.g., climate change, sustainability, flooding) By Judy Dow, an Abenaki basket-weaver and veteran educator (Das & Strong, 2018). In this classroom context, the 5Rs were respect, responsibility, reverence, reciprocity, and relationships. These are moral and ethical values that were passed along to her by family, and her belief was that if students “learn and remember… [these values could help the students] survive the changing world” (Dow, 2019 Summer) as a result of climate change, pollution, and disregard for all life.

So, from these various 4 and 5Rs that are reflective of indigenous core values (Das & Strong, 2018, November 27; Dow, 2019, Summer; Harris & Wasileski, 2004; Kirkness & Barnhardt, 2001), we decided to focus on 4 of these Rs to help us analyze and describe the following mathematics and [science] lessons. The 4 Rs that we will be applying in this blog are relationship, reciprocity, responsibility, and respect. Similarly, we felt it was important to emphasize that we are in “kinship” (Harris & Wasileski, 2004, p. 4) or relationships with all life on Earth to remind us not to engage in “uneven… exchange obligations” (Harris & Wasileski, 2004, p. 5) but ones that are cyclical and examples of a “give-and-take” (Kirkness & Barnhardt, 2001, p. 13) dynamic or reciprocity. Closely related is responsibility. So, not only in relation to life that is mutually positive but also mindful that “we are responsible for our actions” (Dow, 2019 Summer, p. 16) that impacts all life. And in a similar vein, we must respect all life, our “kin” (i.e., human, and non-human). So, guided by these 4 Rs, we will discuss environmental issues and lesson plans that integrate these ideas for teachers and students.

In the months to come, Alerta! will share information and lessons about environmental issues that reference back to the common values (the 4 Rs): Relationships, Responsibility, Reciprocity, and Redistribution. Topics include but are not limited to, air quality, extreme weather events, littering, mining and mountain-top removal, and wildfires.

References

Das, A. & Strong, L (2018, November 27). Abolition Science Praxis Pt. 2 (Judy Dow). Abolition Science Radiohttps://www.abolitionscience.org/home/2018/11/13/abolition-science-praxis-pt-1-judy-dow.

Dow, J (2019, Summer). Going Through the Narrows. Potash Hill, 14-17. https://potash.emerson.edu/sites/default/files/2019/Spring/PotashHill-Spring-2019.pdf.

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VOTE!!: DESPITE VOTING STRUCTURES AND RESTRICTIONS DURING COVID-19

VOTE!!: DESPITE VOTING STRUCTURES AND RESTRICTIONS DURING COVID-19

By Dee Crescitelli, Juan Gerardo, Kyndall Brown, Silvia Llamas-Flores, & Carlos LópezLeiva 

Introduction 

The coronavirus pandemic stands to bring a major surge of mail-in and absentee voting in the upcoming general election. Now more than ever, a system that is designed to keep voters safe is critical and fundamental to our democracy. Unfortunately, recent events have raised questions about voting rights, particularly for people of color. The coronavirus pandemic has only exacerbated voter suppression and highlighted the systemic racism and inequities that have historically affected people of color.  In this blog, we address some of the many factors that disproportionately disenfranchise different groups. Understanding voting as a fundamental democratic right, we present this information to promote critical conversations on the structures constraining this right, but at the same time, we also encourage our audience to VOTE! With this in mind, in this blog, we start by briefly contextualizing voting laws in the U.S. to provide context to the rest of the blog. We then highlight some of the differences in voting laws across different states and the ramifications these laws have on different groups. We then move on to discuss the role that COVID-19 has played in exacerbating voter suppression and how mail-in-voting has become a voting right issue. To end, we provide examples of several lessons that can be used in the classroom to discuss issues centered around voting and COVID-19. 

1. Disenfranchising Voting in US Context 

According to the Oxford dictionary, disenfranchisement is the state of being deprived of a right or privilege, especially the right to vote. Throughout the history of the U.S., there are many groups of people who have been disenfranchised. Originally, the only people who were allowed to vote were white male property owners. The 15th amendment to the constitution gave formerly enslaved African-American men the right to vote. The 20th amendment gave women the right to vote. Even after the passage of the 15th and 20th amendments, many states enacted policies that restricted the voting rights of African-Americans. A large focus of the Civil Rights movement was securing the right to vote. The 1965 Voting Rights Act provided nationwide protections for voting rights. The law prohibits every state and local government from imposing any voting law that results in discrimination against racial or language minorities. Other general provisions specifically outlaw literacy tests and similar devices that were historically used to disenfranchise racial minorities. In recent years, the U.S. Supreme Court has begun to reverse many of the gains of the Voting Rights Act. 

Links to Articles About Disenfranchisement

Supreme Court Invalidates Key Part of Voting Rights Act

New York Times coverage of the Supreme Court invalidating key portions of the Voting Rights Act

Study: New Voting Laws Continue Disenfranchisement, Put Elections Administrators in Difficult Positions

Article from 8/25/20 detailing the impact that Shelby v. Holder is having - mainly about laws that give outsized (and often unwanted power) to non-election officials in determining who gets to vote. For example, in states that have enacted very specific voter-ID laws, the Department of Motor Vehicle personnel get to determine who can get an ID, and therefore who gets to vote. Staffing patterns at DMVs and differing hours of operation due to COVID-19 precautions further exacerbate this issue-- creating barriers for historically disenfranchised groups.

Democrats Need to Step Up Their Efforts to Beat Voter Suppression

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Latinidad in the US, Latinx, Latina/o, or Hispanic?: Geographies of Oppression, Race, Gender, and Language

Latinidad in the US, Latinx, Latina/o, or Hispanic?: Geographies of Oppression, Race, Gender, and Language.

By Carlos LópezLeiva, Silvia Llamas-Flores, Kyndall Brown 

The goal of this blog is to promote conversations rather than imposing solutions on group naming and identities. Here, we describe the relevance of naming an identity and a brief historical account of naming the Latina/o community in the U.S. We then contrast different perspectives or claims—linguistic and social justice oriented—that acknowledge this controversy. Finally, we ask for your opinion. Please, let us know what you think.

Many of us grew up using popular phrases that often became life paradigms. “La unión hace la fuerza” and “El respeto al derecho ajeno es la paz” are commonly cited in daily Spanish speech. The funny thing is that these quotes come from very different places. “La unión hace la fuerza” comes from Neerlandes, “Eendracht maakt macht; which means, “Unity makes strength.” This phrase still comes from Latin, "concordia res parvae crescunt" (the little things bloom in harmony). The second quote means, "Among individuals, as among nations, respect for the rights of others is peace." It comes from Benito Juarez, 26th Mexican president of Zapotec origin. He fought for equal Mexican indigenous nation's rights and sovereignty. With these backgrounds, there is no doubt that our life’s paradigms come from very diverse peoples, places, politics, languages, and ideals.

We think that the re-visiting of how we use the terms, Latina/o and Hispanic in the U.S. is an important action to take, because these are meant to identify a group of people in the U.S. Actually, the U.S. hosts the third largest group of Latinx, Latinas/os, or Hispanics in the world. This group includes a wide range of languages, races, ethnic groups, cultures, and origins; however, this population shares similar historical, geographical, and political experiences. We might never reach consensus on a term to identify this group clearly, but we can at least engage in a dialogue to learn about how these terms or names matter to this community in the U.S.

Given current sociopolitical circumstances and health threats, TODOS—more than ever—extends a call for Unity. Unity can be cultivated through spaces of communication where different perspectives are presented and discussed with the goal of strengthening who we are and how we understand ourselves as a community in the U.S.

The relevance of naming identities

As educators aware of how our own and the students’ identities play a major role in our interactions and work together, and that mathematical identities refer to how one sees and believes who oneself is and can do, a view that affects how one participates in mathematics (e.g., “good at math”) (Aguirre, Mayfield-Ingram, & Martin, 2013). As teachers, we should recognize “the range of identities beyond mathematics that students spend their time and energy developing or that others may assign to them. Acknowledging these identities can lead to a richer, more meaningful understanding of children and their lives” (p. 19). 

Ours and students’ multiple identities range based on the interactions and contexts in which we participate. Sosa-Provencio (2016) argues that Mexicana/o students deal with identities at the intersection(s) of race, class, gender, language, and residency status. As educators, we must challenge places of marginality (Aguirre et al., 2013). We must also learn about, acknowledge, and nourish the intersectional identities of the students with who we work. 

When we self-identify, we often make use of language to name those identities according to a context. In the case of Hispanic, Latina/o, Latin@, Latinae, and/or Latinx people in the U.S., the changes in these names or words have been linked to linguistic and political perspectives. To describe these changes, Bakhtin’s (1981) idea of a “word being half ours and someone else’s” is useful, since it helps us understand that words change based on interactions and meaning-making goals:

“As a living, socio-ideological concrete thing, language, for the individual consciousness, lies on the borderline between oneself and the other. The word in language is half someone else's. It becomes ‘one's own’ only when the speaker populates it with his own intention, his own accent, when he appropriates the word, adapting it to his own semantic and expressive intention. Prior to this moment of appropriation, the word does not exist in a neutral and impersonal language (it is not, after all, out of a dictionary that the speaker gets his words!), but rather it exists in other people's mouths, in other people's contexts, serving other people's intentions: it is from there that one must take the word and make it one's own.... Language is not a neutral medium that passes freely and easily into the private property of the speaker's intentions; it is populated—overpopulated —with the intentions of others. Expropriating it, forcing it to submit to one's own intentions and accents, is a difficult and complicated process.” (pp. 293-294)

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Ethnomathematics: Mathematics de TODOS

Ethnomathematics: Mathematics de TODOS

Carlos LópezLeiva, Kyndall Brown, and Silvia Llamas-Flores

Mathematics and daily life activities are connected. For many cultures and societies mathematics is not an isolated field or subject, it is part of an encompassing knowledge or science that helps us understand and work with the world (Cajete, 2000). Mathematics is often taught and practiced at school in ways that are rarely linked to the learners’ experiences and interests, their community, their culture, their histories, and real-life applications. However, we have learned in mathematics education that mathematics is a human endeavor (Jacobs, 1970) present across human civilizations and cultural practices such as, playing, locating, measuring, counting, explaining, and designing and building (Bishop, 1988).

Ethnomathematics is a term introduced by Ubiratàn D’Ambrosio (1991) from Brazil to describe the techniques used to explain, understand, and cope with reality in order to survive across diverse communities. Ethno relates to the members of distinct groups identified by cultural traditions, codes, symbols, myths, and specific ways of reasoning and inferring (D’Ambrosio, 1985). So, ethnomathematics refers to the way that members of various cultural groups mathematize their own reality because it examines how both mathematical ideas and practices are processed and used in daily activities (D’Ambrosio and Rosa, 2017, p. 288). In fact, this approach highlights mathematics as a cultural practice existent in human activity and challenges perspectives that present mathematics mainly as a Western—Roman, Greek—knowledge commonly taught at school. An ethnomathematical approach helps us understand mathematics from a perspective wider than traditional school mathematics, of seeing mathematics as a human act. As a result, such vision can helps renovate how we teach mathematics (Lange,1996; Rosa & D’Ambrosio, 2018).

In mathematics teaching, this approach helps us expand, affirm and redistribute mathematical authorship and empowerment; draw from and expand resources to teach and learn mathematics; recognize and challenge spaces of marginality of knowledges of many communities; and strengthen the relationship between learners and mathematics (Aguirre, Mayfield-Ingram, & Martin, 2013; Kokka, 2015). Such an approach should “perpetuate and foster—to sustain—linguistic, literate, and cultural pluralism that are part of schools” (Paris, 2012, p. 93). Thus, when students and teachers use the real world as a starting point for conceptual development, mathematics teaching and learning become more complex (De Lange, 1996) as they also become doers of mathematics (NCTM, 2000) by engaging in problem solving, multi-modal representations, and communication to develop mathematical meaning making and mathematize through their own perspectives (CCSS-M, 2010; Freudenthal, 1973).

These notes and blog were developed with the goal of sharing available resources around ethnomathematics. Our hope is that mathematics teachers and educators can access and use them as needed. This blog includes three main sections:
1. How is ethnomathematics relevant and critical?
2. What has been learned and done in ethnomathematics?
3. What can be done in the classroom?

We hope you enjoy it, and if you experience some of these or new ideas in your classroom, please share with us here, so more teachers and researchers can learn about what of ethnomathematical approaches can be implemented in the mathematics classroom.

How Is Ethnomathematics Relevant and Critical?

Ethnomathematics presents implications for classroom teachers by asking us to re-examine our beliefs and practices about what counts as legitimate mathematics, how mathematical concepts are to be taught, and how to assess children’s knowledge of mathematics. With these ideas in mind, let’s listen to a conversation between Ubiratàn D’Ambrosio and Paulo Freire as they discuss the relevance of ethnomathematics by its connection with the community thus mediating a culturally-responsive approach of teaching mathematics.

What Has Been Learned and Done in Ethnomathematics?

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TODOS Blog on Voting

TODOS Blog on Voting

The Mathematics of Voting and its Consequences: Ideas for Mathematics Lessons

By Silvia Llamas-Flores, Carlos LópezLeiva, & Kyndall Brown

As the 2018 midterm election approaches, there are many opportunities to engage students in critical issues through mathematics. This blog focuses on specific social justice issues related to voting. We are sharing resources that teachers can use to create lessons. If you are inspired by the information below and develop a lesson, we encourage you to share it with us through the TODOS BLOG, so that other teachers can also implement/adapt your lesson.
The blog starts by focusing on the historic link between democracy and voting and challenges that have emerged over time. The second section of the blog provides resources around a number of currentissues related to policies that tend to restrict voting rights, such as: Inequitable voting requirements across states and people’s status, closure of voting polls, felony disenfranchisement, and gerrymandering. The third section of the blog is dedicated to mathematics lessons on voting. There are some examples with links to previous mathematics lessons on voting. The use of Modeling in a lesson as a mathematical practice is presented as a link between issues of voting and the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics.
1.     Voting, Democracy, & People’s Voices
2.     Mathematics, Policy, & Voting
3.     Mathematics Lessons & Voting
1.     Voting, Democracy, & People’s Voices
The idea of voting comes from a democratic perspective and practice in which peace is maintained and collective social and political issues are resolved through collective input. What people voice becomes the guide of steps and actions to be implemented. Despite these equity-oriented goals, processes in promoting and sustaining democratic processes are not always equitable thus undermining the integrity of a process called ‘democratic’. The links provided below elaborate on elections, democracy, and and connections between democracy and voting.
1. a. Why elections and voting are important?
-Video on voting and democracy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IndRAsYX4W4
1.b. History of Elections
-What are the Presidential elections?
-Forecast for 2020 elections
2.    Mathematics, Policy and Voting
Mathematics is a tool that can help us assess not only the results of voting in an election process. Mathematics can also help us assess the entire process even before elections take place.  For example, who can or is allowed to vote? Where can you vote? Is accessible?
2.a. Inequitable Voting requirements across states and people’s status
There has been a resurgence of state and local measures to disenfranchise voters of color.  Inequitable voting requirements, such as requiring identification at voting polls, is only one form of voter suppression.  Thirty-four states have introduced legislations that would require voters to show some form of photo identification in order to vote.  The purpose and effect of these restrictive voting laws is to suppress the vote of certain groups of people, including people of color, making voting rights a social justice issue.
-Background Information - voter ID laws, variations of ID laws, breakdown by state:http://www.ncsl.org/research/elections-and-campaigns/voter-id.aspx
-Voter ID as a form of Suppression - effects of voter ID requirements, challenges of voter ID laws: https://www.americanbar.org/publications/state_local_law_news/2015-16/spring/chapter_10_voter_id_a_form_voter_suppression/
2.b. Closure of voting polls 
The Voting Rights Act was established 53 years ago aimed to protect voters against discrimination. In 2013, Shelby County v. Holder put into jeopardy voter protections by eliminating Section 5, which required jurisdictions with a history of voter discrimination to demonstrate that cost savings from polling site closures wouldn’t disadvantage voters of color.  As a result, there has been a widespread effort to close polling sites, many located in areas primarily serving people of color.  A national study reported that out of the 381 counties studied, 165 of them - 43% have reduced voting locations.  For example, in Arizona alone, there have been 212 poll closures since Shelby.  In general, there has been a shift to close polling places on a massive scale across the nation, indicating a movement to suppress people’s right to vote. 
-Suppressing the Black Vote
-Poll Closures - The Effects of Shelby County v. Holder
-Voter Suppression Across the Nation
2.c. Felony disenfranchisement
Felony disenfranchisement refers to the eligibility to of the exclusion of people from voting. This status relates to conviction of a criminal offense, such as: crimes of incarceration for a duration of more than a year, or felony. This status can be permanent or restored after completing a sentence, or probation (Wikipedia).
-Data and statistics on felony disenfranchisement https://www.sentencingproject.org/issues/felony-disenfranchisement/
-Impact of felony disenfranchisement https://www.hrw.org/legacy/reports98/vote/
-Collection of articles about felony disenfranchisement https://www.prisonpolicy.org/research/felon_disenfranchisement/
2.d. Gerrymandering
Gerrymandering is a political practice that establishes an advantage to a particular party or group by manipulating the boundaries of a district. The defined district is known as a gerrymander. According to Wikipedia, Gerrymandering uses: "cracking" (i.e. diluting the voting power of the opposing party's supporters across many districts) and "packing" (concentrating the opposing party's voting power in one district to reduce their voting power in other districts).
 
3.     Mathematics Lessons & Voting
Mathematical modeling provides students with opportunities to analyze and understand the world around them by providing insight into real-world phenomena.  The practice of mathematical modeling provides students with opportunities to mathematize the world around them, a practice supported and encouraged by the Common Core Standards.  Modeling can be used as a powerful tool in identifying and finding solutions to practical issues such as those related to social justice, including the many issues surrounding voting and marginalized groups. Such approach has been called, Critical Mathematics Education. For example, a mathematical model can help students mathematize poll closures across the nation while simultaneously looking at the effects these poll closures have on specific groups’ voting rights.  While we provide some resources below that touch on modeling and work in mathematics education related to voting, at the end we invite you to share your lessons and resources with us!
 
3.a. Modeling
Modeling is of the mathematical practices promoted by the Common
Core State Standards for Mathematics and NCTM. This mathematics education approach helps students understand the relevance and applications of mathematical ideas as well as how many everyday activities are mathematical in nature. Links below describe in more details what modelling is and some examples of how this relates to the mathematics standards in education. 
-Video on what is math modeling https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHtsuOB-TPw
-Common Core State Standards Modeling http://www.corestandards.org/Math/Content/HSM/
-California State Board of Education - What is Modeling? https://all4ed.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Appendix-D-Mathematical-Modeling.pdf
-Think Math - What is modeling with mathematics? http://thinkmath.edc.org/model-mathematics 
3.b. Mathematical modeling and some examples
This section provides some resources useful for teachers interested in promoting the mathematics practice of modeling. These resources include examples of modeling and how this approach can be implemented in the classroom.
Engaging students in the mathematical modeling process https://library.osu.edu/ojs/index.php/OJSM/article/viewFile/5757/4594 
Mathematical modeling, sense making, and the Common Core State Standards http://journals.tc-library.org/index.php/matheducation/article/viewFile/938/583
3.c. Previous work in mathematics education related to voting
Finally, this section describes previous work in mathematics education specifically related to voting.  While not all lessons are specific to mathematics, the ideas relate to teaching and they can be used to mathematize aspects related to voting.  
-Video about voting from University of Wisconsin https://blossoms.mit.edu/videos/lessons/mathematics_voting
 
3.d. Your Turn!!
NOW, it is your turn. We encourage you to get inspired and develop your own lesson plans and activities and share it with us. We will later on include a blog on lessons related to this blog. Please contact and send us  what you develop at: [email protected] 

Students, Teachers, Mathematics and DACA

Students, Teachers, Mathematics and DACA: What are some issues and opportunities?
 
 By
Silvia Llamas-Flores, Kyndall Brown, and Carlos LópezLeiva
 
This blog provides information and resources for teachers, students, and the public in general, who are interested in understanding more about DACA and the students under this program. This information could be used to develop lessons to teach students about DACA, who are DACA students. This information can help deconstruct stereotypes on DACA students and immigrants in general. The information itself challenges readers and teachers to take action and advocate for TODOS/ALL students.  We ask some discussion questions throughout the blog and at the end. Please, participate in the discussion and share with us what you think. Gracias.  
 
What is DACA?
In 2012, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) program was put into place by the Obama administration to “lift the shadow of deportation” for children that were brought to the United States undocumented.  In order to request consideration for DACA, children must meet the following guidelines. 
 
·     Came to the United States when you were under 16
·     Are in school, have a high school diploma or GED
·     No criminal record
 
In addition to protecting young children from being deported, it allowed young adults to work legally in the United States.  Approximately 800,000 children and young adults received protection from deportation under DACA.
Discussion Questions / Resources
Supreme Court Decision on DACA:
In September of 2017, the Trump administration announced that it was rescinding the DACA program, putting at risk some 700,000 young undocumented immigrants for deportation.  Since then, several judges have ruled that the Trump administration had abused its discretion, and issued nationwide injunctions ordering the administration to keep key elements of the program.  As a result, the Trump administration appealed to the Supreme Court in hopes of rescinding the DACA program in its entirety.
In early 2018, the Supreme Court declined the Trump administration’s appeal, thereby shielding “Dreamers” from immediate deportation.  So what does this mean for “Dreamers” already signed up for the DACA program?  For the time being, they are allowed to remain in the DACA program, which protects them from deportation, as well as allows them to keep working legally in the United States, although it is unclear what that timeframe looks like.   
The reality is that unless Congress takes meaningful action to address this issue, and the broader issue of immigration in the United States, this victory for Dreamers will be short-lived.  
Discussion Questions / Resources
Ways to Support Students and Teachers:
The uncertainty surrounding DACA during a time of racial tensions and can be daunting and frightening for many DACA students and their teachers.  While the recent Supreme Court decision to not hear arguments by the Trump administration about the constitutionality of DACA has provided a temporary victory for Dreamers, it has left Dreamers’ fate in limbo.  
As educators and advocates of ALL our students, it is important we provide support in as many ways possible.  This can range from mentoring to connecting students with various organizations that specialize in offering legal and other forms of support for Dreamers.  Below are some resources for teachers and students.
Discussion Questions / Resources
 
DACA/Immigration Fact Sheet:
Center for American Progress Survey of 3,063 DACA recipients in 46 states and D.C.
  • 72% of top 25 Fortune 500 companies employ DACA recipients
  • 97% of respondents are currently employed or enrolled in school
  • 8% of DACA recipients have started their own business
  • Respondents average hourly wage has increased 84% since receiving DACA
  • Of the 45% of respondents who are currently in school, 72% are pursuing a bachelor’s degree or higher
Discussion Questions / Resources
  • UCSD, United We Dream, National Immigration Law Center
 
Immigrant Contributions to Counteract Stereotypes:
  • In 2014, immigrants earned $1.3 trillion and contributed $105 billion in local and nearly $224 billion in federal taxes
  • In 2014 immigrants had almost $927 billion in consumer spending
  • Undocumented immigrants contributed more than $11.6 billion in state and local taxes each year.
  • If the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants were given a pathway to citizenship or legal resident status, those tax contributions could rise by nearly $2 billion.
Discussion Questions / Resources
  • What are DACA students’ contributions to the U.S., and how can you use this information to develop a culturally responsive and socially just math lesson?
Looking Beyond DACA:
We need to see beyond the Supreme Court’s decision on DACA to be fair. This supportive decision is just a step up onto a more humane and fair way in the acknowledgement of human rights of DACA students and their families. It is because many other issues are still at stake. Below, we present some resources that address three major topics that often misguide audiences on who DACA students are.
Many fixed ideas about DACA students is that they are criminals. In fact, one of the main prerequisites to become a DACA student is to have no criminal record. Rather than criminals, we need to let ourselves learn about who DACA students are, so that limited understandings and perspectives on these students do not become the only way we see them.
  • Seeing DACA students as exclusively Latinx
Part of the limited perspective about understanding DACA students is thinking of this as a specific racial group (e.g., Latinx), when in fact, while this group of students shares similar experiences about displacement, immigration, and living in U.S. territory and society as home, they all come from diverse backgrounds.  
  • Viewing DACA students (and families) as an economic burden/challenge.
Recently, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities informed that 22 states faced revenue shortfall. At the same time, TIMES magazine informed that states with the highest shares of immigrant populations include: CA, TX, and NV. Interestingly, none of these states was near the breakdown of the 22 states listed with revenue shortfalls. These patterns confirm previous arguments on how immigrant populations nurture and support the economic growth. In fact, the slow rates of revenue shortfalls were linked to energy prices, and tax cuts, and tax collection growth. While these links need further exploration, DACA students represent a hard-working population that actively contributes to the betterment and growth of the U.S. society and economy. These levels of hard-work promote greater activation of growth, rather than simply “stealing” jobs away, as NPR reports, from U.S. citizens.
Discussion Questions / Resources
  • Click on blue text to access resources linked to the information on “Looking Beyond DACA”
  • How can mathematics help us deconstruct the misleading topics about DACA students presented in this section?
Critical Discussion Questions:
1 What can we do in our teaching practices to promote greater understanding of DACA students and the assets they bring to the classroom?
2 How can mathematics help us understand this issue better?
3 What else should we know about DACA students?

Mathematics&Diversity

January Blog:

Mathematics & Diversity:

Why? What do you think?

 
Why think about diversity in the teaching and learning of mathematics?
Diversity often times is deemed as limiting to what a teacher and students can do in the classroom. In other words, diversity can be seen as an issue.
Have you ever noticed problems with diversity?
For example, sometimes when people have different opinions on an idea trouble is around the corner.
So, is diversity really the issue?
Allan Johnson mentioned:
 “The trouble around diversity, then, isn’t just that people differ from one another. The trouble is produced by a world organized in ways that encourage people to use difference to include or exclude, reward or punish, credit or discredit, elevate or oppress, value or devalue, leave alone or harass” (2006, p. 16).
Then, it seems that diversity itself is not the real problem. The problem is what we do with diversity. In the mathematics classroom diversity could manifest in many ways.
 
In the November TODOS Live!, Dr. Marta Civil presented on ideas related to this topic. Watch it now

Civil_TL from TODOS Live! on Vimeo.

Please, participate in this TODOS blog by responding to any of the 3 questions on diversity
  1. What to do when the teacher's and the students' backgrounds are different?
  2. What to do when the diversity among students themselves is wide?
  3. What to do in the classroom when students’ experiences with mathematics are diverse?
 
Resources Question 1 What to do when the teacher's and the students' backgrounds are different?
 
Resources Question 2 .   What to do when the diversity among students themselves is wide?
 
Resources Question 3 .   What to do in the classroom when students’ experiences with mathematics are diverse?
Let’s discuss and learn together about diversity and Mathematics.
 
2 Comments

#IstandwithRochelle

Mathematics is a cultural activity.  The way in which people engage in mathematics is often determined by who they are, where they are and how they and the people around them think about mathematics.   Ubiratan D’Ambrosio (2001) defines ethnomathematics as a term used to “express the relationship between culture and mathematics” (p. 308). As he explains, “Mathematics is a compilation of progressive discoveries and inventions from cultures around the world during the course of history. Its history and ethnography form a wonderful mosaic of cultural contributions.” (p. 310)
 
TODOS acknowledges that mathematics is a social construct.  In our cultures, in our homes and in our classrooms we jointly build meaning for what mathematics is. For these constructs to overlap, to agree, to form a common understanding across cultures, is the work of the classroom.
 
As D’Ambrosio (2001) writes, “An important component of mathematics education today should be to reaffirm, and in some instances to restore, the cultural dignity of children” (p. 308)
 
TODOS acts to develop tools to build a shared understanding of mathematics that gives each child a place in its definition, each culture recognition for its often unique way of visualizing mathematical ideas and each representation of these ideas thoughtful study.
 
TODOS holds itself accountable for this work and for advocating for those who provide the research and ideas that grow our understanding of social justice in mathematics.
 
TODOS stands with Rochelle Gutiérrez and other researchers who provide clarity so we remember what we teach, whom we are teaching and center language, culture and literacy in the mathematics that we teach and in the ways that we teach it.
 
TODOS 2018 Conference will address this goal through the lens of advocating for equity and social justice. (http://www.todos-math.org/) Please join us as we further and deepen our understanding of the role of social justice in mathematics education.
 
Expect to hear from TODOS’ Advocacy Committee.  This group is building the tools we need to proactively support and build on the work of Rochelle and other scholars who are working tirelessly to support us as we advocate for high quality mathematics education for all students.
 
Please read our joint position statement with NCSM to further acquaint yourself with our stance. (http://www.todos-math.org/socialjustice)
 
Take to social media and pass this along:  #IstandwithRochelle
 
Diane Kinch
President, TODOS:  Mathematics for ALL
D’Ambrosio, U. (2001). What is ethnomathematics and how can it help children in schools. Teaching Children Mathematics,7(6) 308-310.

Taking a Stand for Humanity

TODOS: Mathematics for ALL is an organization that seeks to create a more just, humanizing and equitable mathematics education experience for all. Regardless of your political views, we cannot let our differences overshadow our humanity toward each other. We recognize that the current political climate may affect how we move forward as a people that value democracy and justice for all. We must find strength and resolve to reach out to people hurting, scared and uncertain of their futures. We must find ways to support educators to hold space for listening, emotions, and deeper understanding. We have much work to do.
We reiterate here our TODOS mission and goals. In the present political climate, we interpret these as including the following:
  • Respecting and incorporating into our mathematics programs, the role language and culture play in teaching and learning mathematics.
  • Supporting teachers who need help navigating the political and emotional situations occurring daily in their classrooms.
  • Generating and disseminating knowledge that supports our mission of advocacy for all students.
  • Informing the public and influencing educational policies that protect our students and enhance the educational experiences of all of our students.Informing families about the opportunities available to their children and working continuously and ardently to enable these children to become mathematically proficient.

 As mathematics educators, we will continue to stand with our students and their families, advocate for them and affirm their futures.

We welcome your thoughts, comments, and ideas on this subject.

Taking a Stand Part 2

TODOS in its “Taking a Stand for Humanity” statement after the presidential election presented our belief that we must work to create a more just, humanizing, and equitable mathematics education experience for all. Education happens within a context. One such context is the political climate in which children exist. Regardless of political views, we cannot stand by and watch while the civil rights guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States are swept aside by executive orders.  To reiterate,  “We must find strength and resolve to reach out to people hurting, scared, and uncertain of their futures. We must find ways to support educators to hold space for listening, emotions, and deeper understanding. We have much work to do.”

We at TODOS believe in the following:

  • Human Rights.  We support the rights of immigrants and others who are being attacked.
  • Mutual Respect. We support the rights for all and denounce rudeness, divisiveness, and spite that are becoming the norm.
  • Science. We believe in the laws of science that are being attacked by powerful people.
  • Social Justice. We challenge “the roles power, privilege, and oppression play” in our society. (From the TODOS and NCSM joint position statement on Social Justice in Mathematics.

As Robert Frost said in his poem, Mending Wall: “Something there is that doesn't love a wall, that wants it down."

We at TODOS pledge to continue our work to support all children and to tear down the walls that prevent them from reaching their full potential. We will continue to speak out when prejudice outweighs justice.

2 Comments

Standing for Equity and Social Justice

Standing for Equity and Social Justice

My family, as is true for most Americans, is a product of immigration.  My great grandparents left Ireland because of the prejudice and fear that permeated that country in the thousand years for which it was a possession of another.  The people of Ireland were treated as sub-human, criminal, and left to starve. And so they left.  They came to America.
This is my country.  My country, of which Emma Lazarus wrote:
“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
The events in Charlottesville and elsewhere paint a different picture, a picture of a country riddled with hate, with white supremist attitudes that are both born of and belied by history, science and good will.
As mathematics educators we are beholden to the children under our care and our tutelage.  Their dreams of the future are the hope of the future of this country and of the world.  Their dreams have been the dreams of each generation and always we, the educators, have the responsibility to equip them with the tools to achieve these dreams. 
In the words of Brooks & Dunn in the song, Only in America,
“Only in America
Where we dream as big as we want to
We all get a chance
Everybody gets to dance
Only in America”
 The vision of America in the songs that have defined the United States for generations is again slipping away. The Emancipation Proclamation was signed into law over 150 years ago, Rosa Parks sat down on that bus over 60 years ago, and over 50 years ago, César Chavez went on his hunger march  and Martin Luther King was murdered. Yet still we do not match our picture of ourselves. In this county, not everybody gets to dance. What can we, as members of TODOS, do to actualize the vision of America as a place for ALL people?  Taking the beginning of the Preamble to the Constitution and drawing on the essence of the NCSM/TODOS position paper on Social Justice we have the following:
“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity…” {Constitution} …Do agree to treat each other with respect, educate each and every one of our children for their future through acknowledging the wrongs that have been done, taking action to ensure that these wrongs will not recur and hold ourselves accountable for supporting and incentivizing mathematics teachers and leaders to live the words of this message.
Without our commitment to this work, the dream of America will fail.  Our children are our future.  As children watched the events in Charlottesville, what conclusions did they reach?  What is our response as educators to their confusion and uncertainty? As the President of the Benjamin Banneker Association, Brea Ratliff, has stated, “They need to know that we will always stand up for what's right.” TODOS commits to this.  Integrity matters, social justice is about the way in which human rights are manifested in the everyday lives of people at every level of society. It is not about financial gain or professional advancement or putting oneself before the good of others.
As schools start up for another year of hopeful progress, let each of us commit to turning the tide, to working within our classrooms, schools, districts, counties and states to advocate for each and every child, for each of them represents the future of America. The TODOS Advocacy Committee will be working on this and other issues in the coming year.  Please stay tuned and become involved in the rebuilding of the dream.
Diane Kinch