This presentation examines the redesign of an undergraduate History of Mathematics course for preservice bilingual secondary teachers at a Hispanic-Serving Institution in the southwestern United States. The redesign was grounded in Community- and Family-Centered Pedagogy, rooted in Funds of Knowledge, and in Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy, with a discipline-specific mathematics framework guiding design across four dimensions: anti-assimilationism, strength-based teaching, power and justice, and identity affirmation. Rather than treating non-Western mathematics as an additive “diversity” component, the course reoriented mathematical history around students’ linguistic, familial, and cultural resources as central to meaning-making and to future teaching practice. Two core assignments anchored the course. First, weekly Padlet reflections required students to interview a family or community member, produce a short video diary connecting community practices to historical mathematical themes, and engage peers’ posts to build collective knowledge. Second, a culminating bilingual digital storybook project, Cuentos Matemáticos, invited students to synthesize course themes into narratives that integrated mathematical ideas with family histories through translanguaging across English and Spanish. Student reflections indicated increased recognition of mathematics as a cultural and lived practice, greater pride and belonging connected to heritage knowledge, and expanding pedagogical commitments to affirming bilingualism and community-based expertise in mathematics classrooms. The redesign offers a model for mathematics teacher educators seeking to advance equity by positioning language, culture, and identity as integral to disciplinary learning, not as peripheral supports.

Authors:
Luis Fernandez, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, United States
Tenchita Alzaga Elizondo, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, United States

About the Presenter(s)
Dr Luis Fernandez is a University Assistant Professor/Lecturer at The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley in United States

See this presentation on the full schedule – Wednesday Schedule

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