Doing Social Justice: Turning Talk into Action in a Mathematics Service Learning Course

Abstract

Many students experience mathematics as a neutral entity, without understanding its impact on social justice and equity. Students must understand that mathematics and statistics are powerful tools for creating social change, and that students themselves are capable to enact positive social change through their mathematical abilities. In this paper, we discuss how we have integrated both service learning and mathematical consulting into a single course to promote civic engagement by mathematics majors through professional applications. We outline methods to engage with community partners to create consulting projects for students while integrating discussions of professionalism, practice, ethics, and social justice into the classroom. We provide qualitative evidence that the integration of service learning and consulting empowers mathematics students to make a difference by doing social justice with mathematics.