The MSU SEMINAL Project: Incorporating Principles of Culturally Responsive Teaching in a Pre-Calculus Course

Abstract

In this paper, we provide a report of preliminary findings of the Morgan State University (MSU) Student Engagement in Mathematics through an Institutional Network for Active Learning (SEMINAL) project and its focus on culturally responsive teaching (CRT) as an active learning framework for pre-calculus instruction. The paper concludes with a summary of wins and challenges faced by MSU’s Mathematics Department. Lessons learned by MSU SEMINAL will help inform other departments on implementing CRT in a pre-calculus course.

KEYWORDS:

• Pre-calculus
• culturally responsive teaching
• active learning in mathematics

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors would like to thank the SEMINAL project for their support, guidance, and observations. The authors are also grateful and thankful for project support and conversations on the content and data of the paper with Dr. Kendra Pleasant and graduate teaching assistants Baibai Kamara and Toni Smith. M-SEMINAL is funded by the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) [grant number 1624610].

Notes on contributors

Roni Ellington

Roni Ellington, Ph.D., received her undergraduate and graduate degrees in Mathematics from Morgan State University and her doctorate in Curriculum and Instruction, Mathematics at the University of Maryland at College Park. Her research includes understanding the experiences of high achieving students in mathematics and STEM education, transformative education, mathematics teacher education and professional development, and culturally responsive teaching in undergraduate STEM education.

Janet Barber

Dr. Janet Barber is a former university chair of a school of arts and sciences. She received her doctorate in higher education leadership with a dissertation theoretical frame of positive psychology as it relates to subjective well-being. An alumna of Morgan State University, she continued her research in the area of leadership, positive psychology, cross-cultural competency, cultural diversity, and culturally responsive andragogy by way of scholarly writings, workshops, and training sessions. She holds a master’s degree in sociology from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and a bachelor’s degree in psychology from North Carolina Central University.

Ahlam Tannouri

Ahlam Tannouri, Ph.D., received her doctorate on Mathematical Statistics and Operations Research from Paris VI-Pierre & Marie Curie, Sorbonne, and France. Some of Tannouri’s work includes Strategies to Deploy Temporary Ambulatory Medical Services in Response of a Catastrophic Event, Modeling the BP Oil Spill, and Harnessing the Power of Big Data to Design Predictive Models. She is currently focusing on her role to introducing undergraduate students to research areas related to machine learning and supervising their senior projects.

Syafrida Syafrida

Syafrida Syafrida received a master’s degree and a doctorate degree in mathematics from Howard University with a dissertation, “An approach to approximation of (0,q) Meromorphic form on Stein Manifold,” and a bachelor’s degree in mathematics education from Institute of Teacher Training and Education (IKIP) Padang, Indonesia. She has many years of teaching experience at middle school, high school, and the university levels in Indonesia. She has now worked on a pilot project, “Teaching Precalculus with ALEKS (Assessment and Learning in Knowledge Space).”

Asamoah Nkwanta

Asamoah Nkwanta received a doctorate degree in mathematics from Howard University, a master’s degree in mathematics from the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee, and an undergraduate degree in mathematics from North Carolina Central University. He is Chair and Professor of Mathematics at Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland. He has many years of teaching experience at the college and university levels. He has worked on numerous interdisciplinary projects that involve computational mathematics, molecular biology, the performing arts, mathematics education, and active learning. His academic research interests are algebraic and enumerative combinatorics, and discrete mathematical biology.