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Faculty
My research examines the realities of teaching and learning mathematics in schools serving predominantly African American, Latina/o, Native American, poor/working-class, and immigrant students. I pursue four interrelated themes in my work:
(1) understanding how research, policies, and practices address the realities of students of color, poor and working class students, and immigrants;
(2) how Mexican immigrant students experience mathematics learning socially and institutionally, including how these students are socialized to learn and think about mathematics in their own homes and communities;
(3) how secondary mathematics teachers learn to develop understanding about students’ home knowledge to develop and enact culturally relevant mathematics learning experiences,
(4) how children and youth develop racial and ethnic identities in relation to disciplinary identities in mathematics
Central to all this work is privileging student experience and family knowledge. I contend that student experience and voice offer both practical and theoretical insights on how race, culture, language, gender, class are intimately connected to the ways in which students come to participate in mathematics learning.
Currently, I teach and advise students across the undergraduate, teacher education (Mathematics Education), and graduate education (Mathematics Education) programs in the College of Education. I am also an affiliate faculty of Education, Equity and Society.
Education
Ph.D. University of California, Los Angeles, Education, 2009. Division of Urban Schooling: Mathematics Education.
M.A. Claremont Graduate University, Education: Secondary Mathematics Education, 2001.
B.A. Occidental College, Mathematics and Politics, 1999.
Fellowships, Honors, and Awards
2013 Henry T. Trueba Award for Research Leading to the Transformation of the Social Contexts of Education, American Educational Research Association, Collective Award: Diversity in Mathematics Education (DiME), Special Interest Group: Division G- Social Context of Education.
2013-14 University of Washington Technology Teaching Fellow
2003-2009 National Science Foundation (Grant No. 0119732) Diversity in Mathematics Education (DiME) Fellow at UCLA
2000 Claremont Graduate University META Scholarship.
Publications
(selected publications)
Ishimaru, A., Barajas-López, F. & Bang, M. (2015). Centering Family Knowledge to Develop Children’s Empowered Mathematics Identities. Journal of Family Diversity in Education.
Barajas-López, F. & Aguirre, J.M. (2015) Fostering English language learner perseverance in mathematical problem-solving in high school. In L. de Oliviera, A. Bright & H. Hansen-Thomas (Eds.), Common Core State Standards in Mathematics for English Language Learners: High School. New York: TESOL International Press.
Barajas-López, F. (2014) Mexican Immigrant Students’ Schooling Experiences and the Construction of Disengagement in Mathematics Learning Contexts. Journal of Latinos in Education.
Rahn, M., Butler, M., Barajas-López, F., et al,. (2010) California Mathematics & Science Partnership (CaMSP) Statewide Evaluation. Pasadena, CA: Public Works, Inc.
Rahn, M., Butler, M., Barajas-López, F., et al,. (2009) California Mathematics & Science Partnership (CaMSP) Statewide Evaluation. Pasadena, CA: Public Works, Inc.
Diversity in Mathematics Education (2007). Culture, race, power, and mathematics education. In F. Lester (Ed.), The Second Handbook of Research on Mathematics Teaching and Learning (pp. 405-433). Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.
Presentations
(selected presentations)
Barajas-López, F. (2015) Imagining New Directions in Latino/a and Native American Mathematics Education. “Imagine the Future” Seminars. Heritage University, Yakima, WA.
Barajas-López, F. (2014) Forum on Mexico: The Rise of Indigenous Autonomy in Rural Mexico. Seattle, WA.
Barajas-López, F. (2013) “Por uno pagan todos [All pay the price for the misdeed of one]”. Understanding Latino/a Math Learning Identities at a Northwest HS. Presenter at the Society for Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS), San Antonio, TX.
Barajas-López, F. (2012) Issues and Challenges of Enacting a Problem Based Learning Approach in Mathematics at a Pacific Northwest High School: Immigrant and Second Language Learners Voices and Perspectives. Presenter at the Society for Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS), Seattle, WA.
Courses Taught (* Graduate course(s), + Undergrad course(s))
*ED C&I 577: Current Issues in Mathematics Education
Mathematics Education Research Group (MERG)
*ED C&I 505: Conceptions of Race, Equity, and Social Justice in Mathematics Education
*ED TEP 582: Teaching Mathematics in the Secondary School 1
*ED TEP 583: Teaching Mathematics in the Secondary School 2
*ED C&I 505: Latina/os in Education
*EDPSY 581: Indigenous Pedagogies
+EDC&I 352: Teaching to Change the World
