M.Ed. candidate promotes equity in elementary mathematics

Erika Hernandez G'23 has been invited to present her research on promoting equity in elementary mathematics at the annual Latin American Meeting of Educational Mathematics (RELME) later this month.

Erika Hernandez G’23 is a candidate in the newly revised M.Ed. Program with an emphasis on Innovation in Education. Her journey started in the fall of 2020, and she has since completed two semesters of independent research with mentor, Aaron Trocki, associate professor of mathematics.

Hernandez G’23 will present her research at the annual Latin American Meeting of Educational Mathematics (RELME) on June 30th via Zoom.

Her research, titled, “Promoting Equity in Elementary Mathematics” shows the development, enactment, and assessment of an instructional unit designed to promote equity and access in a fifth-grade classroom in the southeastern United States. The lessons were structured to encourage student voice in the classroom and to use multiplication and division of fractions as an analytical tool of empowerment. Qualitative data in the form of questionnaires, transcribed class discussions, and student work indicated growth in the dimensions of access, power, and mathematical content understanding. Research results will help further the conversation on addressing equity in mathematics education.

Hernandez G’23 has been teaching for seven years. In the fall, she will teach a fourth and fifth grade combination class at Stoneville Elementary School in Rockingham County.

The Latin American Meeting of Educational Mathematics (RELME) is an annual meeting of researchers, professors, undergraduate and graduate students interested in educational mathematics. This 34th edition will be held at the Centro Universitario de Occidente (Cunoc), Quetzaltenango, Guatemala.