Practicing and Future Secondary Teachers’ Challenges with Designing Mathematics for Social Justice Lesson Plans
Abstract
1. Introduction
1.1. Conceptual Framework
1.2. Literature Review
1.2.1. Secondary TCs’ and PTs’ Internal Lesson Planning Challenges and Resolutions
1.2.2. Secondary TCs’ and PTs’ External Lesson Planning Challenges and Resolutions
1.2.3. The Contribution of the Current Study
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Research Design
2.2. The Case
2.3. Participants
2.4. Data Collection
2.5. Data Analysis
3. Findings
3.1. Challenges
3.1.1. The Loci of the Challenges
Internal Challenges
External Challenges
3.1.2. The Nature of the Challenges
The Nature of the Internal Challenges
The Nature of the External Challenges
| Loci | Nature | Challenge | Count |
|---|---|---|---|
| Internal | Cognitive | Incorporation of social justice issues into math lessons (e.g., identifying a social justice issue, unsure of what qualifies as a social justice issue, aligning the social justice issue with the math) Time management issues (e.g., pacing of the lesson, time needed to develop the lesson) Enactment of the lesson (e.g., presenting the lesson to children; facilitating discussion) | 14 |
| Affective | Managing personal influences (e.g., comfortability with certain topics, bias toward others, beliefs against TMSJ) Managing Fear (e.g., loss of job, pushback from students & the school, “heated” debates) | 6 | |
| Social | Anticipated classroom dynamics in response to social justice issues (e.g., “heated” debates and controversy) | 3 | |
| External | Structural | Access to resources & support (e.g., rigorous lesson examples, outdated data, less relevant data, supportive school environment) | 6 |
| Total Challenges | 29 | ||
3.2. Resolutions
3.2.1. The Loci of Resolutions
The Nature of the Resolutions
Here Alisha demonstrates an evolved understanding of what TMSJ involves and does not limit it just to issues involving race but to “real world” issues. Some participants also resolved their challenges by turning to external resources, including academic articles and lesson examples, for support in developing the social justice and mathematics components of their lessons. Bailey reflected about her use of such external resources and stated,I understand there are a variety of topics that can be addressed in a more factual way so that I can let students draw their conclusion and avoid any angry students and/or parents. I am more open to the idea, especially because it is a way to incorporate the real world.
Bailey’s reflection indicates that she was able to seek inspiration and examples from resources beyond what was provided in the course that could directly be used in her lesson in ways that she found to be especially beneficial.I found that there were some very beneficial resources that tied statistics into some social justice issues like climate change as well as birth control regarding misleading graphics. This fit very well into my lesson idea that I thought of a while ago.
These moments of peer dialogue served as both inspiration and validation, helping participants connect mathematical content with meaningful social issues. Participants also turned to family members for support. Alisha, for example, explained, “I decided to talk to my dad about my struggles, and he asked what issue I wanted to focus on.” When she shared that her social justice issue would be hunger, he suggested the idea of distance. These interactions with peers, teachers, and family members highlight how social support played a critical role in helping participants navigate challenges in lesson planning and deepen their engagement with social justice issues.In a conversation with another student, Kristina, I asked her what she was going to do, hoping to get an idea. She mentioned she wasn’t sure but she was working with exponential growth and decay equations in class and was going to pick something around that topic. That was it. I immediately remembered an article I had read days earlier about a couple in China who had seven children and just paid the government fees of 155,000 in order to have the family they wanted. I had no idea that was an option and then I immediately thought, wow, only the wealthy can have more than one or two children. As they say, the rest is history.
| Loci | Nature | Challenge | Count |
|---|---|---|---|
| Internal | Cognitive | Utilized resources in and out of the course (e.g., course content, articles, lesson examples, relevant data) Utilized pedagogical knowledge or pedagogical content knowledge (e.g., creating a contingency plan related to pacing, planning for pedagogical moves to attend to rigor) | 9 |
| Social | Solicited support from others (e.g., teachers, peers, family) | 7 | |
| Affective | Affective Negotiation of Content (adjusted the lesson based on emotional comfort & anticipated emotional responses from others) | 2 | |
| Total Resolutions | 18 | ||
4. Discussion
4.1. Interpretation of Findings
4.2. Comparisons with Other Studies
4.3. Implications for Supporting Lesson Design
4.3.1. Addressing Structural Challenges: Improve Access to Quality Resources
4.3.2. Modeling TMSJ Lessons: Learn from and Teach Pre-Designed Examples
4.3.3. Supporting Lesson Design: Use Frameworks and Tools
4.3.4. Preparing for Social Challenges
4.3.5. Attending to Affective Dimensions of TMSJ
4.3.6. Preparing for Integrating Issues Related to Race and Racism
4.4. Limitations and Future Research
5. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
Appendix A. Codebook
| Code | Description | Challenge Example | Challenge Rationale | Resolution Example | Resolution Rationale |
| Cognitive | Relate to knowledge acquisition | “None of my math teachers taught a lesson that addresses a social justice issue, so I found it quite challenging to think of ideas” (Alisha). | This was coded as cognitive because it relates to TCs struggle to make mathematical connections to social justice issues. | “I found that there were some very beneficial resources that tied statistics into some social justice issues like climate change as well as birth control regarding misleading graphics. This fit very well into my lesson idea that I thought of a while ago. This resource was provided to me from my observation by Teacher B, which gave me a good framework and examples to use” (Bailey). | This was coded as cognitive because the TC interacted with an academic resource to resolve their challenge. |
| Affective | Relate to emotional processes such as beliefs, values, motivations, attitudes, dispositions, and a willingness to participate | “I was initially apprehensive to incorporate a social justice topic into the mathematical discussion for fear of the diverse opinions that could potentially lead to debate” (Kristina). | This was coded as affective because it deals with the TCs feelings about incorporating social justice issues into the lesson plan. | “One challenge I faced when creating this lesson plan was if the activity at the end would be sufficient enough in the amount of time left of the period. I say this because I still do not know if I could finish the whole Desmos activity, but I will get as far as I can with the students and maybe use it as a review to finish at the start of next class” (Brooke). | This was coded as affective because the TC interacted with their own thoughts and ideas as a means to resolve their challenge. |
| Social | Relate to interactions among and between individuals such as communicating, participating, negotiating, and collaborating | “With each one of these videos I have learned that I need to learn how to properly present these issues [of] importance, I feel as though I give some information but not as urgent of a message as it is needed” (Stanley). | This was coded as social because the participants were concerned with the communication of the lesson to the students. | “To combat these challenges I asked some past teachers I knew as well as my observation teacher for any recommendations on teaching math for social justice in terms of resources” (Bailey). | This was coded as social because the TC interacted with another individual to resolve their challenge. |
| Structural | Relate to structural barriers such as lack of access to resources | “I will say there were some challenges to planning this lesson. This mainly was finding resources at first until I received some advice and some aid” (Bailey). | This was coded as structural because the participant was concerned with not having resources needed to plan the lesson. | An example resolution might be that the student used resources provided by the professor, which might help reduce the burden of independently locating appropriate materials. | This would be coded as structural because the student would be drawing on structural support in place to resolve their challenge. |
- Note: Descriptions extracted from Vomvoridi-Ivanovic and Mcleman (2015, p. 86).
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| Pseudonym | Race | Gender | Class Standing | Degree Program | TC or PT | Years of Experience |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alisha | White | Female | Undergraduate | BS in Mathematics Education | TC | 0 |
| Bailey | Not provided | Not provided | Undergraduate | BS in Mathematics Education | TC | 0 |
| Marisol | Hispanic | Female | Undergraduate | BS in Mathematics Education | TC | 0 |
| Brooke | Not provided | Not provided | Undergraduate | BS in Mathematics Education | TC | 0 |
| Stanley | White | Male | Undergraduate | BS in Mathematics Education | TC | 0 |
| Arnold | Not provided | Not provided | Graduate | Master of Arts in Teaching in Mathematics Education | TC | 0 |
| Phillip | Not provided | Not provided | Graduate | Master of Education in Curriculum and Instruction | TC | 0 |
| Jackie | Not provided | Not provided | Graduate | Master of Arts in Teaching in Mathematics Education | PT | 1 |
| Terry | Mixed- Race | Female | Graduate | Master of Education in Curriculum and Instruction | PT | 3 |
| Kristina | Not provided | Not provided | Graduate | Master of Arts in Teaching in Mathematics Education | PT | 7 |
| Serenity | Not provided | Not provided | Graduate | Master of Education in Curriculum and Instruction | PT | 18 |
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Kudaisi, Q.J.; Morton, K. Practicing and Future Secondary Teachers’ Challenges with Designing Mathematics for Social Justice Lesson Plans. Educ. Sci. 2025, 15, 1313. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci15101313
Kudaisi QJ, Morton K. Practicing and Future Secondary Teachers’ Challenges with Designing Mathematics for Social Justice Lesson Plans. Education Sciences. 2025; 15(10):1313. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci15101313
Chicago/Turabian StyleKudaisi, Queshonda J., and Karisma Morton. 2025. "Practicing and Future Secondary Teachers’ Challenges with Designing Mathematics for Social Justice Lesson Plans" Education Sciences 15, no. 10: 1313. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci15101313
APA StyleKudaisi, Q. J., & Morton, K. (2025). Practicing and Future Secondary Teachers’ Challenges with Designing Mathematics for Social Justice Lesson Plans. Education Sciences, 15(10), 1313. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci15101313

