“Writing the world” through writing: priorities for composition research in social justice mathematics

Abstract

This qualitative review of four internationally-distributed curricular accounts of social justice mathematics highlights ways in which the activity of writing is under-developed if students are to “write the world” with mathematics. Writing is defined as students’ linguistic expression of at least one sentence. A review of 63 lesson plans, lesson memoirs, or curricular planning guides suggests the pressing need for research on composition processes associated with students’ action steps subsequent to a social justice mathematics activity; on creative or fictional writing; and for research debate on scaffolding the act of interpreting mathematical work in justice terms.