David W Stinson
Georgia State University, Middle and Secondary Education, Professor of Mathematics Education (Retired May 2024)
David W. Stinson’s (Ph.D., The University of Georgia) research interests are organized around three broad, interrelated questions: (1) How do students who are constructed outside the White, Christian, heterosexual male of bourgeois privilege successfully accommodate, reconfigure, or resist (i.e., negotiate) the hegemonic discourses of schooling and society? (2) How do mathematics teachers, educators, and researchers incorporate the philosophical and theoretical underpinnings of critical postmodern theory into their education philosophies, pedagogical practices, and/or research methods? (3) How are philosophical considerations taken up differently across the paradigm of inquiry spectrum throughout the ongoing historical moments of mathematics education research?
Professor Stinson has authored and coauthored research published in the leading education and mathematics education journals (e.g., Review of Educational Research, American Educational Research Journal, Teachers College Record, The Urban Review, The Qualitative Report, Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, Educational Studies in Mathematics, Philosophy of Mathematics Education Journal, Journal of Urban Mathematics Education, Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education, Mathematics Teacher, Mathematics Teaching, and School Science and Mathematics). In addition, he has authored and coauthored book chapters for several edited volumes, including contributing coauthored chapters to the 2017 National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) Compendium for Research in Mathematics Education: “Exploring Different Theoretical Frontiers for Different (and Uncertain) Possibilities in Mathematics Education Research” and to the 2024 Fourth International Handbook of Mathematics Education: "Strengthening Equity and Social Justice Research in Mathematics Education Through Critical Interrogations of White Supremacy and Settler Colonialism." In 2012, Professor Stinson was coeditor of Teaching Mathematics for Social Justice: Conversations with Educators, an edited volume published by NCTM: one of “The Top 75 New York Times Best-Selling Education Books of 2013.”
Professor Stinson was editor in chief of the Journal of Urban Mathematics Education for 10 years (2009: Vol. 2, No. 2 to 2018: Vol. 11, No. 1&2), and completed a three-year term (2012–2015) as a member of the Editorial Panel of the Journal for Research in Mathematics Education and a two-year term (2014–2016) as a member of the AERA Review of Research Award Committee.
Address: Georgia State University ~ College of Education & Human Development ~ 30 Pryor Street SE, Suite 600
Atlanta, GA 30303
Professor Stinson has authored and coauthored research published in the leading education and mathematics education journals (e.g., Review of Educational Research, American Educational Research Journal, Teachers College Record, The Urban Review, The Qualitative Report, Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, Educational Studies in Mathematics, Philosophy of Mathematics Education Journal, Journal of Urban Mathematics Education, Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education, Mathematics Teacher, Mathematics Teaching, and School Science and Mathematics). In addition, he has authored and coauthored book chapters for several edited volumes, including contributing coauthored chapters to the 2017 National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) Compendium for Research in Mathematics Education: “Exploring Different Theoretical Frontiers for Different (and Uncertain) Possibilities in Mathematics Education Research” and to the 2024 Fourth International Handbook of Mathematics Education: "Strengthening Equity and Social Justice Research in Mathematics Education Through Critical Interrogations of White Supremacy and Settler Colonialism." In 2012, Professor Stinson was coeditor of Teaching Mathematics for Social Justice: Conversations with Educators, an edited volume published by NCTM: one of “The Top 75 New York Times Best-Selling Education Books of 2013.”
Professor Stinson was editor in chief of the Journal of Urban Mathematics Education for 10 years (2009: Vol. 2, No. 2 to 2018: Vol. 11, No. 1&2), and completed a three-year term (2012–2015) as a member of the Editorial Panel of the Journal for Research in Mathematics Education and a two-year term (2014–2016) as a member of the AERA Review of Research Award Committee.
Address: Georgia State University ~ College of Education & Human Development ~ 30 Pryor Street SE, Suite 600
Atlanta, GA 30303
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Books by David W Stinson
The Top 75 New York Times Best-Selling Education Books of 2013 – #71
http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/12/18/reading-list-the-top-75-new-york-times-best-selling-education-books-of-2013/?_r=2
"Mathematics as a Catalyst for Change—for ALL Students
Educators increasingly recognize the important role that mathematics teaching plays in helping students to understand and overcome social injustice and inequality. This collection of original articles is the start of a compelling conversation among some of the leading figures in critical and social justice mathematics, a number of teachers and educators who have been inspired by them and who have inspiring stories of their own to tell—and any reader interested in the intersection of education and social justice. An important read for every educator, this book shows how to teach mathematics so that all students are given the tools they need to confront issues of social justice today and in the future.
PRAISE FOR Teaching Mathematics for Social Justice:Conversations with Educators
"Teaching Mathematics for Social Justice presents a collection of engaging and important ideas that can help transform mathematics from a traumatic and unfair learning experience to one that is enjoyable and equitable. The editors include some of the most insightful educators in this area, who think deeply about issues of social justice, in theory and practice, and work to make a real impact in children’s lives." —Jo Boaler Professor, School of Education, Stanford University
"In an era when mathematics education, once again, is being driven by and put in service to larger social, economic, and racial projects, there continues to be a need for strong voices who raise critical questions about the politicization of mathematics education, on one hand, and questions about the role of mathematics education in sustaining larger political projects on the other: Whose interests are being served? and How can mathematics education be re‐envisioned as a means to create a more socially just world? Anita Wager and David Stinson have assembled a collection of scholar‐teachers‐activists who provide insightful answers to these questions and whose individual and collective voices speak to the importance and timeliness of Teaching Mathematics for Social Justice. These voices are informed by deep historical and scholarly knowledge as well as by work in the trenches of communities, schools, and classrooms. For anyone seeking to rearticulate the aims and goals of mathematics education in a highly contested time in our history, this book is a must‐read."—Danny Bernard Martin Professor, College of Education, University of Illinois at Chicago
"The renowned mathematics educator Bob Moses declared that during the 1950s and ’60s literacy was seen as the key civil right and that today, in the midst of the knowledge economy, mathematics is the new civil right. In this volume, Stinson and Wager have assembled a stellar group of scholars who understand that mandate. We no longer have the luxury of thinking of mathematics as the purview of a privileged few. It is exciting to see mathematics educators take up the responsibility of making mathematics an equal-opportunity and equal-access field of study. This book is going to be a major contribution to both mathematics education and equity education."—Gloria Ladson-Billings Professor, The Kellner Family Chair in Urban Education, School of Education, University of Wisconsin–Madison
"Teaching Mathematics for Social Justice is a significant contribution. It is important not only for those mathematics educators who understand the connections between mathematics and the reproduction or interruption of inequality but also to the larger community of critical educators who are committed to building an education that is truly emancipatory."—Michael W. Apple John Bascom Professor of Curriculum and Instruction and Educational Policy Studies, School of Education, University of Wisconsin, Madison"""
ABSTRACT: The purpose of this study was to shed light on the schooling experiences of African American male students who embraced school, academics, and mathematics. In particular, the study examined the influence of sociocultural discourses on the agency of 4 African American men in their early 20s who demonstrated achievement and persistence in school mathematics. Agency in this context was defined as the participants’ ability to accommodate, resist, or reconfigure the available sociocultural discourses that surround African American males in order for them to effectively negotiate these discourses in their pursuit of success.
The study used qualitative action research methodology (Kemmis & Wilkinson, 1998) located within a critical postmodern theoretical frame (Kincheloe & McLaren, 1994). More specifically, the participants of the study were asked to read, reflect on, and respond to current research literature regarding the schooling experiences of African American male students. Their responses were analyzed using an eclectic theoretical framework that included poststructural theory, critical race theory, and critical (postmodern) theory. Poststructural theory provided a frame for rethinking and redefining key concepts such as person, agency, and power, among others. Critical race theory provided a frame for understanding how the discourse of race and racism operates within U.S. social structures. And critical (postmodern) theory provided a frame for discussing the purposes of education research.
The reporting and analysis of the data revealed that the participants had acquired robust mathematics identities (Martin, 2000), identities that positively impacted their sense of agency. How the participants acquired such uncharacteristic mathematics identities for African American male students was to be found, in part, in how they understood the sociocultural structures and discourses of U.S. society and how they accommodated, resisted, or reconfigured the specific discourses that surround African American males. Although at times the responses from the participants were similar, their responses were never monolithic—not across participants, and not even within participants. Present throughout the responses from each participant, however, was recognition of himself as a discursive formation (Foucault, 1969/1972) who could actively accommodate, resist, or reconfigure sociocultural discourses as a means to subversively repeat (Butler, 1990) his constituted “raced” self.
Edited Proceedings & Special Issues by David W Stinson
Articles by David W Stinson
ABSTRACT: In this essay, the author explores how research in mathematics education is always already entangled with and in ontological, epistemological, and ethical considerations—that is, philo-sophical considerations—of the researcher from beginning to end. The danger in too much of the existing mathematics education research, however, is limited acknowledgement of how philosophical considerations drive both knowledge production and knowledge dissemination in the field. “Practical” definitions of ontology, epistemology, and ethics are provided as well as descriptions of how each concept is made sense of across the paradigms of inquiry spec-trum: predict, understand, emancipate, and deconstruct. The author concludes the essay with a summative argument of where and how to begin engaging philosophical considerations and a brief discussion of an emerging paradigm of inquiry.
ABSTRACT: In this paper, I explore how mathematics education research is always already entangled with and in ontological, epistemological, and ethical considerations-that is, philosophical considerations-of the researcher (or research team) from beginning to end. The danger in too much of the existing mathematics education research, however, is limited acknowledgement of how philosophical considerations drive both knowledge production and knowledge dissemination in the field. Illustrating how the concepts ontology, epistemology, and ethics are made sense of across the research paradigm spectrum-predict, understand, emancipate, and deconstruct-sheds light on not only the possible divergences in approaches to research (mathematics education or otherwise) but also the interrelatedness of the concepts.
ABSTRACT: This article summarizes a qualitative study that explored the influence a “successful” Black male mathematics teacher had on Black male high school students’ perceptions of teacher care. Framed by care theory, critical race theory, and culturally relevant pedagogy, ethnographic methods were used during data collection. Data analysis identified six overarching themes that the participants used to describe teacher care: (a) motivation, (b) culture, (c) confidence, (d) discipline, (e) concern for futures, and (f) environment.
This quantitative study investigated the relationships among practicing elementary teachers’ (N = 153) beliefs about mathematics and its teaching and learning, mathematics anxiety, and instructional practices in mathematics. When viewed singly, the findings reveal the teachers with higher levels of mathematics anxiety tend to use less standards‐based instruction and those with beliefs oriented toward a problem‐solving view of mathematics reported more standards‐based teaching. A combined analysis shows that after controlling for mathematical beliefs, teaching longevity, and educational degree attainment, there is no relationship between teachers’ mathematics anxiety and instructional practices. These findings suggest a spurious relationship between anxiety and practices, with beliefs having the strongest relationship with practices. Several suggestions for positively influencing the mathematical beliefs and affect in general of elementary teachers while learning mathematics are offered.
ABSTRACT: In this essay, the author provides a working definition of philosophy from a cultural point of view, and argues the need for mathematics educators to develop their philosophy of mathematics teaching and learning or, to speak more broadly, their philosophy of education. He then historically situates three scholars—John Dewey, Paulo Freire, and Michel Foucault—who have been instrumental in the formulation of his philosophy of education. Next, he shares how the philosophies of these three scholars provide different languages to critique three aspects of education. He concludes with brief discussions on the process of his ever-evolving philosophy of mathematics teaching and learning and the emerging debates about the " grand challenges " for mathematics education.
The Top 75 New York Times Best-Selling Education Books of 2013 – #71
http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/12/18/reading-list-the-top-75-new-york-times-best-selling-education-books-of-2013/?_r=2
"Mathematics as a Catalyst for Change—for ALL Students
Educators increasingly recognize the important role that mathematics teaching plays in helping students to understand and overcome social injustice and inequality. This collection of original articles is the start of a compelling conversation among some of the leading figures in critical and social justice mathematics, a number of teachers and educators who have been inspired by them and who have inspiring stories of their own to tell—and any reader interested in the intersection of education and social justice. An important read for every educator, this book shows how to teach mathematics so that all students are given the tools they need to confront issues of social justice today and in the future.
PRAISE FOR Teaching Mathematics for Social Justice:Conversations with Educators
"Teaching Mathematics for Social Justice presents a collection of engaging and important ideas that can help transform mathematics from a traumatic and unfair learning experience to one that is enjoyable and equitable. The editors include some of the most insightful educators in this area, who think deeply about issues of social justice, in theory and practice, and work to make a real impact in children’s lives." —Jo Boaler Professor, School of Education, Stanford University
"In an era when mathematics education, once again, is being driven by and put in service to larger social, economic, and racial projects, there continues to be a need for strong voices who raise critical questions about the politicization of mathematics education, on one hand, and questions about the role of mathematics education in sustaining larger political projects on the other: Whose interests are being served? and How can mathematics education be re‐envisioned as a means to create a more socially just world? Anita Wager and David Stinson have assembled a collection of scholar‐teachers‐activists who provide insightful answers to these questions and whose individual and collective voices speak to the importance and timeliness of Teaching Mathematics for Social Justice. These voices are informed by deep historical and scholarly knowledge as well as by work in the trenches of communities, schools, and classrooms. For anyone seeking to rearticulate the aims and goals of mathematics education in a highly contested time in our history, this book is a must‐read."—Danny Bernard Martin Professor, College of Education, University of Illinois at Chicago
"The renowned mathematics educator Bob Moses declared that during the 1950s and ’60s literacy was seen as the key civil right and that today, in the midst of the knowledge economy, mathematics is the new civil right. In this volume, Stinson and Wager have assembled a stellar group of scholars who understand that mandate. We no longer have the luxury of thinking of mathematics as the purview of a privileged few. It is exciting to see mathematics educators take up the responsibility of making mathematics an equal-opportunity and equal-access field of study. This book is going to be a major contribution to both mathematics education and equity education."—Gloria Ladson-Billings Professor, The Kellner Family Chair in Urban Education, School of Education, University of Wisconsin–Madison
"Teaching Mathematics for Social Justice is a significant contribution. It is important not only for those mathematics educators who understand the connections between mathematics and the reproduction or interruption of inequality but also to the larger community of critical educators who are committed to building an education that is truly emancipatory."—Michael W. Apple John Bascom Professor of Curriculum and Instruction and Educational Policy Studies, School of Education, University of Wisconsin, Madison"""
ABSTRACT: The purpose of this study was to shed light on the schooling experiences of African American male students who embraced school, academics, and mathematics. In particular, the study examined the influence of sociocultural discourses on the agency of 4 African American men in their early 20s who demonstrated achievement and persistence in school mathematics. Agency in this context was defined as the participants’ ability to accommodate, resist, or reconfigure the available sociocultural discourses that surround African American males in order for them to effectively negotiate these discourses in their pursuit of success.
The study used qualitative action research methodology (Kemmis & Wilkinson, 1998) located within a critical postmodern theoretical frame (Kincheloe & McLaren, 1994). More specifically, the participants of the study were asked to read, reflect on, and respond to current research literature regarding the schooling experiences of African American male students. Their responses were analyzed using an eclectic theoretical framework that included poststructural theory, critical race theory, and critical (postmodern) theory. Poststructural theory provided a frame for rethinking and redefining key concepts such as person, agency, and power, among others. Critical race theory provided a frame for understanding how the discourse of race and racism operates within U.S. social structures. And critical (postmodern) theory provided a frame for discussing the purposes of education research.
The reporting and analysis of the data revealed that the participants had acquired robust mathematics identities (Martin, 2000), identities that positively impacted their sense of agency. How the participants acquired such uncharacteristic mathematics identities for African American male students was to be found, in part, in how they understood the sociocultural structures and discourses of U.S. society and how they accommodated, resisted, or reconfigured the specific discourses that surround African American males. Although at times the responses from the participants were similar, their responses were never monolithic—not across participants, and not even within participants. Present throughout the responses from each participant, however, was recognition of himself as a discursive formation (Foucault, 1969/1972) who could actively accommodate, resist, or reconfigure sociocultural discourses as a means to subversively repeat (Butler, 1990) his constituted “raced” self.
ABSTRACT: In this essay, the author explores how research in mathematics education is always already entangled with and in ontological, epistemological, and ethical considerations—that is, philo-sophical considerations—of the researcher from beginning to end. The danger in too much of the existing mathematics education research, however, is limited acknowledgement of how philosophical considerations drive both knowledge production and knowledge dissemination in the field. “Practical” definitions of ontology, epistemology, and ethics are provided as well as descriptions of how each concept is made sense of across the paradigms of inquiry spec-trum: predict, understand, emancipate, and deconstruct. The author concludes the essay with a summative argument of where and how to begin engaging philosophical considerations and a brief discussion of an emerging paradigm of inquiry.
ABSTRACT: In this paper, I explore how mathematics education research is always already entangled with and in ontological, epistemological, and ethical considerations-that is, philosophical considerations-of the researcher (or research team) from beginning to end. The danger in too much of the existing mathematics education research, however, is limited acknowledgement of how philosophical considerations drive both knowledge production and knowledge dissemination in the field. Illustrating how the concepts ontology, epistemology, and ethics are made sense of across the research paradigm spectrum-predict, understand, emancipate, and deconstruct-sheds light on not only the possible divergences in approaches to research (mathematics education or otherwise) but also the interrelatedness of the concepts.
ABSTRACT: This article summarizes a qualitative study that explored the influence a “successful” Black male mathematics teacher had on Black male high school students’ perceptions of teacher care. Framed by care theory, critical race theory, and culturally relevant pedagogy, ethnographic methods were used during data collection. Data analysis identified six overarching themes that the participants used to describe teacher care: (a) motivation, (b) culture, (c) confidence, (d) discipline, (e) concern for futures, and (f) environment.
This quantitative study investigated the relationships among practicing elementary teachers’ (N = 153) beliefs about mathematics and its teaching and learning, mathematics anxiety, and instructional practices in mathematics. When viewed singly, the findings reveal the teachers with higher levels of mathematics anxiety tend to use less standards‐based instruction and those with beliefs oriented toward a problem‐solving view of mathematics reported more standards‐based teaching. A combined analysis shows that after controlling for mathematical beliefs, teaching longevity, and educational degree attainment, there is no relationship between teachers’ mathematics anxiety and instructional practices. These findings suggest a spurious relationship between anxiety and practices, with beliefs having the strongest relationship with practices. Several suggestions for positively influencing the mathematical beliefs and affect in general of elementary teachers while learning mathematics are offered.
ABSTRACT: In this essay, the author provides a working definition of philosophy from a cultural point of view, and argues the need for mathematics educators to develop their philosophy of mathematics teaching and learning or, to speak more broadly, their philosophy of education. He then historically situates three scholars—John Dewey, Paulo Freire, and Michel Foucault—who have been instrumental in the formulation of his philosophy of education. Next, he shares how the philosophies of these three scholars provide different languages to critique three aspects of education. He concludes with brief discussions on the process of his ever-evolving philosophy of mathematics teaching and learning and the emerging debates about the " grand challenges " for mathematics education.
ABSTRACT: Several researchers have made recommendations regarding strategies needed for effective classrooms as mathematical communities. In this article, based on research that explored the schooling experiences of mathematically successful Black male students, the authors recommend four explicit strategies to effectively create classrooms as mathematical communities for and with Black male students.
ABSTRACT: Mathematics education research over the past half century can be understood as operating in four distinct yet overlapping and simultaneously operating historical moments: the process–product moment (1970s–), the interpretivist–constructivist moment (1980s–), the social-turn moment (mid 1980s–), and the sociopolitical-turn moment (2000s–). Each mo-ment embraces unique theoretical perspectives as it critiques or rejects others. And given that methodology is inextricably linked to theory, each moment calls forth not only different theoretical possibilities but also different methodological possibilities. In this article, the authors briefly discuss and critique the methodologies that are “traditionally” found in each moment and explore some of the methodological possibilities made available in the sociopolitical-turn moment. Specifically, the authors promote another way of thinking about and looking at methodology when research is framed with/in the sociopolitical hy-brid of critical postmodern theory.
ABSTRACT: This article shows how equity research in mathematics education can be decentered by reporting the “voices” of mathematically successful African American male students as they recount their experiences with school mathematics, illustrating, in essence, how they negotiated the White male math myth. Using poststructural theory, the concepts discourse, person/identity, and power/agency are redefined or reinscribed. The article also shows that using a poststructural reinscription of these concepts, a more complex analysis of the multiplicitous and fragmented robust mathematics identities of African American male students is possible—an analysis that refutes simple explanations of effort. The article concludes, not with “answers,” but with questions to facilitate dialogue among those who are interested in the mathematics achievement and persistence of African American male students—and equity and justice in the mathematics classroom for all students.
ABSTRACT: In this essay, through reviewing three “equity” articles over the span of nearly 30 years, the author argues that researching race in mathematics education research has become a strategic discursive practice. But what about racism? What happens when racism is opened up—theoretically and methodologically—as an object of inquiry in mathematics teaching and learning? Doesn’t researching racism require an examination of the pervasiveness of White supremacy? That is to say, can we (ethically) examine racism without examining White supremacy? After all, aren’t racism and White supremacy two sides of the same coin?
In this theoretical paper, the authors provide an overview of mathematics education as a research domain, identifying and briefly discussing four transitions or historical moments in mathematics education research. Using the Instructional Triangle as a point of reference for the dynamics of mathematics instruction, they illustrate how mathematics education researchers working in different moments explore different questions and use different theoretical perspectives. The authors then provide brief summaries of critical theory and postmodern theory, and suggest critical postmodern theory (CPT) as a hybrid theory that offers new possibilities for conceptualizing and conducting mathematics education research.
This session explores the ways that practicing teachers came to reflect differently regarding the discursive teacher/student binary during a graduate-level course entitled “Mathematics Education within the Postmodern.” Using Dewey’s concept of reflective thinking, as well as Foucault’s discourse and Derrida’s deconstruction, we show how the course provided new suggestions for the students as they continued their journey of becoming teachers. Through interweaving comments written by the students with concepts borrowed from postmodern philosophers and theorists, we illustrate how the teachers began to understand that teachers and students might indeed be described differently in the postmodern.
For an expanded unpublished manuscript see: Stinson, D. W., Bidwell, C. R., Powell, G. C., & Thurman, M. M. (2007). Becoming critical mathematics pedagogues: Three teachers’ beginning journey. Unpublished manuscript, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA.
This study reports the effects of a graduate-level mathematics education course that focused on critical theory and teaching for social justice on the pedagogical philosophies and practices of three mathematics teachers (middle, high school, and 2-year college). The study employed Freirian participatory research methodology; in fact, the participants were not only co-researchers, but also co-authors of the study. Data collection included reflective essays, journals, and “storytelling”; data analysis was a combination of textual analysis and autoethnography. The findings report that the teachers believed that the course provided not only a new language but also a legitimization to transform their pedagogical philosophies and practices (and research agendas) away from the “traditional” and toward a mathematics for social justice.
Manuscript presented (summer 2008) at the annual International Conference of Teacher Education and Social Justice, Chicago, IL.
Condensed manuscript published: Stinson, D. W., Bidwell, C. R., & Powell, G. C. (2012). Critical pedagogy and teaching mathematics for social justice. The International Journal of Critical Pedagogy, 4(1), 76–94.
ABSTRACT: In this study, the authors report the transformations in the pedagogical philosophies and practices of three mathematics teachers (middle, high school, and 2-year college) who completed a graduate-level mathematics education course that focused on critical theory and teaching for social justice. The study employed Freirian participatory research methodology; in fact, the participants were not only co-researchers but also co authors of the study. Data collection included reflec-tive essays, journals, and “storytelling”; data analysis was a combination of textual analysis and autoethnography. The findings report that the teachers believed that the course provided not only a new language but also a legitimization to transform their pedagogical philosophies and practices away from the “traditional” and toward a mathematics for social justice.