Guest Jo Boaler Math-Ish

Episode 455 – Guest: Jo Boaler Math-Ish
Guest: Joe Boaler Math-Ish

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Kelly welcomes Jo Boaler back to the podcast. Jo is the Nomellini & Olivier Professor of Education at Stanford University. She is the author of nineteen books and numerous research articles. Her latest book is called “Math-Ish: Finding Creativity, Diversity, and Meaning in Mathematics.”

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It seems inconceivable that you would become a target of the right wing because you want more people to be taught math well.

“I was one of the writers of the California math framework, which was proposing some really reasonable changes in the way we teach math and paying attention to all students. And it was targeted by the people who are targeting other things. It was called ‘woke math.’ Tucker Carlson put my picture on his show and said, this woman’s bringing social justice into math – which, of course, prompted multiple death threats. And it sort of went on from there that this group decided to target the framework. And then they thought, or it seemed, that if they could bring me down personally, then everything else would fall.”

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And you aren’t backing down, are you?

“It’s hard to stop, because we know that there’s a better way. We have tons of evidence that there’s a better way and I have seen so many people become kind of unlocked and ready to embrace math and do really well in it. So yeah, it’s hard to give up on that when you know that you can help people with it.”

 

The problem you identify is what you call “Narrow Maths.” What is that?

“Narrow Maths is really what’s in schools everywhere. And it’s those short, closed questions where one method is valued and teachers are looking for one answer. And it’s very procedural. But math doesn’t have to be like that. For any question in math, we can open up the question and invite different ways of thinking about it, different ways of drawing it, visualizing it. So, what I’m proposing is not different math. It’s exactly the same math. It’s the same algebra. It’s the same geometry. But just opening up those questions, making them more rich, exciting, more inspiring for students.’”

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Photo Credit: Robert Houser Photography