2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

In response to the different challenges that humanity faces, the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization [1] has proposed 17 goals that seek to unite us as a community in favor of people, the planet, and prosperity. Each of the goals are fundamental so that as a world community we can achieve the goal of reducing injustice and poverty. Within these goals, one that is relevant for teachers and students to talk about – particularly after the COVID-19 pandemic – is to “ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages” [1, p. 16]. COVID-19 generated a high number of deaths worldwide, but it also exacerbated disparities between privileged and minoritized groups. For example, in the United States, the number of Latino deaths was around 28.3% of the population – mainly due to living in densely populated areas and having limited access to resources and information in Spanish that would have allowed them to take preventive measures [2]. In other words, the information provided for awareness did not consider these characteristics within the Latino community. Thus, it is important to problematize from an early age how ensuring a healthy life and promoting well-being for all at all ages is an important but also complex issue that cannot be isolated from other impacting factors.

As indicated by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine [3], addressing these complex challenges for humanity requires interdisciplinary actions. This paper, which is part of a larger study exploring the enactment of funds of knowledge to gauge participation of students and teachers in engineering, describes a case study where a mathematics middle school teacher created and implemented an activity to explain the complexity of addressing social justice issues. The activity centers on an interdisciplinary approach that draws from mathematics, engineering, and funds of knowledge to help students deepen their understanding of mathematics and engineering while raising awareness of physical and mental well-being. The research questions that guided this case study were: (1) To what extent does FoK-based professional development contribute to a teacher’s (re)conceptualization of mathematics education activities in the classroom to expand students’ perceptions of engineering? and (2) To what extent does the teacher’s creation of these activities provide middle school students with opportunities to reflect on their physical and mental well-being? We collected data from interviews with the teacher, online classroom observations, and students' responses to questions posed by the teacher. After the data was transcribed and coded deductively, preliminary analysis indicated that the funds of knowledge approach allowed the teaching sequence to be built based on an authentic real-life context. The sequence also allowed students to delve into the mathematical concept of scatterplots, discuss the role of engineering in the face of humanity’s challenges such as COVID-19, and discuss how data can help inform engineers make socially conscious decisions that will positively impact marginalized communities.

References

[1] United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization, Education for sustainable development goals: Learning objectives. Paris, France: UNESCO, 2017.
[2] V. N. Salgado de Snyder, M. McDaniel, A. D. Padilla, and D. Parra-Medina, “Impact of COVID-19 on Latinos: A social determinants of health model and scoping review of the literature,” Hisp. J. Behav. Sci., vol. 43, no. 3, pp. 174–203, 2021.
[3] National Academies of Sciences Engineering and Medicine, The integration of the humanities and arts with sciences, engineering, and medicine in higher education: Branches from the same tree. Washington, D.C.: National Academies Press, 2018. doi: 10.17226/24988.