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Multicultural Children’s Literature as a Context for Teaching Mathematics for Cultural Relevance in Urban Schools

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Abstract

This article reports on a teacher-research study that used multicultural texts as a context for teaching mathematics for cultural relevance during an elementary mathematics methods course. The results of the study reveal that 28 % (5 out of 18) of the teacher candidates (TCs) chose books that were culturally contextual or culturally amenable. However, 89 % (16 out of 18) of the TCs chose texts that were mathematically robust or mathematically peripheral. Four focal TCs were selected to examine how they used the texts with children to teach mathematics concepts. Math lessons fostered academic success, cultural competence, and critical consciousness. Overall, the results of the study are mixed. We conclude that some TCs’ choice of texts may reflect indifference, passive resistance, low self-efficacy, school culture, and mixed messages from the teacher–researcher. Additional studies that include follow-up interviews and classroom observations are needed to determine the factors that influence TCs’ selections of multicultural texts and their implementation of culturally relevant pedagogy with students.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Science and Mathematics Teaching Center, University of Wyoming, 1000 E. University Ave., Dept. 3992, Laramie, WY, 82071, USA

    Jacqueline Leonard

  2. University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, USA

    Cara M. Moore

  3. Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Wanda Brooks

Authors
  1. Jacqueline Leonard
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  2. Cara M. Moore
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  3. Wanda Brooks
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Correspondence to Jacqueline Leonard.

Appendix

Appendix

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Table 4 Rubric to measure the use of culturally relevant tenets
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Leonard, J., Moore, C.M. & Brooks, W. Multicultural Children’s Literature as a Context for Teaching Mathematics for Cultural Relevance in Urban Schools. Urban Rev 46, 325–348 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11256-013-0264-3

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