Radical Math

Radical Math is a web-based resource with the dual goals of raising mathematic literacy and simultaneously engaging students in thinking about, developing solutions for, and taking action to address a range of community issues. Information and communication technology (ICT) is here used as a tool to provide materials for teachers seeking to encourage their students to ask questions: "What are the problems that my community is facing, and how can I use math to understand and help solve them?", "Does race play a factor in who is getting mortgage loans in our city?", and so on.

To that end, the interactive Radical Math website supports educators in teaching many different types of math within the context of studying social, political, and economic justice issues including: poverty, the "prison-industrial complex" (click here for a Wikipedia definition), military recruitment, public health issues, and economic exploitation. Specific online offerings include:

• An explanation of "social justice math" - what it is, how to integrate social justice into a math class, and what the benefits and pitfalls of this strategy are
• A growing set (over 750 as of this writing) of standards-based lesson plans, articles, data sets, maps, and graphs that are searchable by both math skills and social justice issues; teachers are encouraged to contribute their own materials and ideas
• Teaching materials on financial topics for youth such as owning a credit card, paying for college, and avoiding subprime lenders, as well as materials on Ethnomathematics
• Pages with news, events, and resources/links related to social justice math
• Radical Math Teachers Listserv, a forum for discussion about issues of math and social justice
• An interactive blog

In order to expand the Radical Math offerings in ways that will engage students, organisers find ways to integrate current events into curricula that is meant to be relevant and timely. For example, organisers responded to the "Jena 6" case (click here? for a Wikipedia explanation), which was the subject of mass media attention (and public discussion/protests) in 2007. In response, the author of Rethinking Mathematics: Teaching Social Justice by the Numbers and his teaching partner wrote a unit about the Jena 6 case that is part of a curricular resource guide called "Revealing Racist Roots: The Three R's for Teaching about the Jena 6" [PDF]. For example, the probability unit has students investigate the following question: "What is the probability of randomly selecting an all-white jury in Jena that is 85.6% white and 14.4% people of color?"

Education, Social Justice.

The premise of Radical Math is that it is possible to teach math from a social justice perspective and at the same time cover state and national standards, prepare students for standardised tests, and allow for the exploration of mathematical ideas on abstract, theoretical, experimental and artistic levels. Math is thought to be "an essential analytical tool to understand and potentially change the world, rather than merely...a collection of disconnected rules to be memorized and regurgitated." The hope is that students will deepen their understanding of social and community issues, understand their own power as citizens in building a democratic society, and become equipped to play a more active role in this society - all while learning mathematics.