| Abstrakt: |
This article focuses on the role of mathematics instruction in building a socially just and diverse democracy. The authors recognize that mathematics is a key resource for building a socially just and diverse democracy. While other school subjects, too, offer resources for democratic education and social justice, mathematics makes its own unique contributions to these goals. Instead of seeing mathematics as culturally neutral, politically irrelevant, and mainly a matter of innate ability, one sees it as a critical lever for social and educational progress. As elementary school teachers, the authors did not just teach academic subjects. They taught their pupils skills and knowledge to help develop them as individuals and as members of a collective. Subject matters offered important resources for these social goals. They and their students read literature in the voices of a wide range of people, about experiences both similar to and different from theirs. From a variety of cultural backgrounds, and a wide range of communities, their students thought differently from one another, and they brought ideas and experiences to offer to the collective work in their classes. |
