Broadening the Participation of Latinx Students in Learning Mathematics and Computer Programming: Affordances and Challenges

Join presenters as they use an equity framework to engage participants in discussing broadening the participation of Latinx middle school students in a mathematics and computer programming program.

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This roundtable discussion begins by framing the affordances and challenges in the context of broadening the participation of Latinx middle school students in STEM+C using an equity lens (Gutiérrez, 2012). Four axes are included as part of this framework: access, achievement (in our case, understandings), identity, and power. Participants are asked to share their understandings of the issues in relation to this equity lens and share stories of opportunities and challenges, as well as ideas of how to address those challenges. An open discussion follows to summarize findings into the following themes: lessons learned, best practices, challenges, and a call for action. We will initiate the discussion by asking the following questions under each theme.

  • Lessons learned: How can we support learning by building on middle school mathematics or other prior knowledge? What surprises emerged as new issues during your implementation? How were they addressed?
  • Best practices: How does research inform best practices for working with Latinx middle school students? What strategies can be used to address some of the challenges?
  • Challenges: How can we broaden participation for students who cannot access the curriculum in English? How can we support low-income communities with limited access to the internet and computing resources?
  • Call for action: What can middle schools do to support sustainable engagement in mathematics and computer programming? What is the role that universities can play in supporting middle schools? How can the community support them?

Gutiérrez, R. (2012). Context matters: How should we conceptualize equity in mathematics education? In B. Herbel-Eisenmann, J. Choppin, D. Wagner, & D. Pimm (Eds.), Equity in discourse for mathematics education: Theories, practices, and policies (pp. 17–33). Dordrecht, the Netherlands: Springer.