Details

Matteo Pezzutto ^[a]

Sustainability in mathematical classes: A single case study on a teacher

Pages: 369-384
Received: 5 June 2023
Accepted in revised form: 31 January 2024
Mathematics Subject Classification: 97M10, 97C70.
Keywords: Environmental and social sustainability, mathematics education, learning mathematical modelling, mathematics teacher professional development.
Author address:
[a]: University of Eastern Piedmont, Dept. for Sustainable Development and Ecological Transition, Vercelli, Italy

This research is part of a larger project involving researchers in mathematics education and researchers in environmental education, coordinated by prof. Chiara Andrà at the University of Eastern Piedmont, Italy.

Abstract: A teacher, who represents the data in this single case study, designed and implemented a learning game for a mathematics class at university. The game aimed at raising awareness about environmental and social issues concerning the cultivation of cotton, through the simulation of a real situation, lived by farmers in Texas and documented in the book by Maxine Bedat, "Unraveled: The Life and Death of a Garment". Being embedded in a mathematics lesson and, at the same time, aiming at provoking reflection about sustainability, makes the activity interdisciplinary as involving scientific, social and economical knowledge. This provoked tensions for the teacher, tensions that are analysed in this paper in terms of possible difficulties teachers can live when implementing activities of this sort, as well as in terms of opportunities for teachers' professional development.

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