Americans are struggling with math, to the point that the Department of Defense considers it a risk to national security. Standardized test scores have slipped in recent years and the situation is particularly impactful for students of color, whose scores trend lower than their white counterparts. Educators and policymakers are well aware of the need to address that gap and improve math performance, but efforts from the past decade have had little impact.
However, new research from TC faculty members Irina Lyublinskaya, Professor of Mathematics and Education, Sandra Okita, Associate Professor of Technology and Education, and Erica Walker, who is currently on leave and serving as Dean of the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) at the University of Toronto, offers a hopeful solution to this pressing issue: making math culturally relevant to students.
From left to right: Irina Lyublinskaya, Sandra Okita and Erika Walker (Photos: TC Archives)
Research finds that by the time students enter fourth or fifth grade, they’re already convinced that they’re bad at mathematics and, subsequently, lose interest in the subject. Building and maintaining engagement in early grades is critical, but standard curricula frequently fail to connect to students of color, according to Lyublinskaya. “There are studies that show engagement only comes if they learn within the context of their everyday experiences…and very often the traditional curriculum does not address the needs of students of color,” she says. Motivated by this resource gap, the researchers focused their efforts on ensuring students of color could connect their daily experiences to mathematics curriculum.
Students using the Finches during a math lesson. (Photo courtesy of Lyublinskaya and Okita)
More engagement led to higher outcomes
The multi-year study is funded by the National Science Foundation and relies on the expertise of Lyublinskaya and Okita, who both research the intersection and integration of learning and technology; Walker, who centers on culturally relevant pedagogy and urban education; and collaborator Vision Education & Media (VEM), a Manhattan-based STEM education company led by Laura Hart, which facilitated professional development for teachers, in-class coaching and support for technology integration. Lyublinskaya also brings expertise in curriculum development and professional development for math and science educators.
The project leads engaged teachers at two Brooklyn schools in co-designing curriculum that incorporates educational robots (called Finches) in order to foster deeper engagement for students in first through third grade.
At first, teachers struggled to implement the new tools but by the end of the first year they were confidently designing culturally relevant lessons that adhered to the curriculum and incorporated the Finches. For example, Deja, a pseudonym for one of the participant teachers, created a ‘family portrait’ activity teaching perimeters where students programmed the robots to help solve the problem in a dynamic way. “[The workshops] are expanding my thinking as far as what math could look like in the classroom, going from the traditional way of doing math to making it more hands-on with the Finch,” said the teacher, who has 15 years of experience.
After just a year of classroom implementation, researchers noted not only increased engagement, but also higher outcomes from students in the program compared to those who weren’t. Those gains were especially high for students with disabilities. Teachers also benefited from the program, building capacity to design culturally relevant activities without assistance.
“Culturally relevant mathematics pedagogy involves connection to everyday aspects of life, problems that require cognitive demand, require kids to think and not just do mechanical work. It also requires the development of agency in students as members of the community,” explains Lyublinskaya.
The Finches themselves are a part of this emphasis on cultural relevance, leveraging a near universal interest in robots among children to make their everyday lessons more exciting. The bird-shaped robots are more than just fun for kids too. “Being able to interact with robots on a daily basis and linking it to their everyday mathematics allows them to imagine a potential interest or career in that area of STEM,” says Okita.
This student-centered approach is transforming the classrooms of participant teachers. One teacher caught her students’ attention by including a problem about Takis — a brand of hot chips — in a lesson teaching three-digit addition and subtraction. “As soon as that word ‘Takis’ appeared on the screen, the kids got excited,” says Lyublinskaya who was observing the class. “It’s little, but it immediately brought attention to the problem, brought attention to mathematics.”
A look at the professional development portion of the study. (Photo courtesy of Lyublinskaya and Okita)
Professional development programs are essential
Teacher education is a central component of the project because curriculum alone cannot ensure cultural relevance. “Only the teachers in the classroom, who know their students, [can identify what] topics or themes their students relate to,” says Okita. In the early phases of the project, Lyublinskaya, Okita, Walker and the VEM team worked alongside teachers to co-develop robot-coding activities for students and in turn, built up the teachers’ cultural competency.
“Over the several years that we've been working with the teachers, they've gotten much more used to being aware of their students’ everyday lives,” says Okita. “They are more attentive to their surroundings and are looking for activities to use [in the classroom].”
However, because teachers are so rarely invited to develop curriculum, it took some time for them to become more comfortable exercising their agency and adapting lessons to their students' needs. “That's why it's not just ‘here's a curriculum, teach it,’” says Lyublinskaya. “It's professional development because for teachers, it requires constant growth.”
Read the study in full here.