Hispanic Heritage Month is a time to celebrate the rich history, culture, and contributions of Hispanic and Latinx communities. It is also an opportunity to learn about the people and ideas that have helped shape our society. This year’s theme, “Together We are More,” really made me think about how we define a pioneer.
When I hear the word pioneer, I usually think about someone who was willing to try something different. Someone who questioned what had always been done and decided to take a different path. Someone who opened a door that others could walk through. There are a lot of pioneers in mathematics and it is important that we help our students recognize that they can be pioneers!
Hispanic Heritage Month begins on September 15, which coincides with the independence anniversaries of several Latin American countries, including Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. Mexico and Chile celebrate their independence days shortly after on September 16 and September 18. While we often think about celebrating through food, music, art, and history, I think it is just as important to recognize the contributions that Hispanic and Latinx individuals have made to mathematics, science, and STEM.
As a mathematics teacher, I have always believed that students need to see themselves in the mathematics they are learning. Mathematics can sometimes feel like a subject that exists outside of culture or history, which is so far from what mathematics is! We explore, look for patterns, make connections, but there are people and stories behind all of these ideas.
When students see mathematicians who come from different backgrounds and experiences, it can help them understand that mathematics is not something that belongs to only certain people.
Mathematics belongs to everyone.
This is one of the reasons I enjoy bringing Hispanic Heritage Month into my mathematics classroom. I think there is a real opportunity to move beyond simply recognizing a month on the calendar and instead use it as a way to explore mathematics, culture, identity, representation, and the people who have helped shape where mathematics is today.
One person I have enjoyed learning more about is Federico Ardila.
Ardila is a Colombian-born mathematician, educator, and DJ whose work connects mathematics with creativity, community, and identity. His approach to mathematics and teaching really stood out to me. He talks about the joy of mathematical discovery and uses the Colombian saying “Nadie te quita lo bailado,” which essentially means that no one can take away what you have danced. I love the idea behind this! (Quanta Magazine)
Being a pioneer doesn't necessarily mean completely changing the world by yourself. Sometimes it means being willing to question the way things have always been done. It means looking at a problem differently. It means creating something new. It means opening a door for someone else. I think this is exactly what we should be encouraging our students to do.
Education should not just be about learning the rules of a system. It should also give students the confidence and agency to question those systems and think about how they can make them better. Students should not simply be consumers of mathematics. They should be creators, problem solvers, and people who can use mathematics to better understand and change the world around them.
Another mathematician of importance is Dr. Omayra Ortega. Dr. Ortega is a Colombian-American mathematician and public health expert whose work focuses on mathematics, statistics, and equity in STEM. One thing that really caught my attention was her “Statistics for Social Justice” course.
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When we ask students to investigate data about population changes, internet access, economic differences, or other real-world issues, they are doing mathematics while also learning about the world. They are interpreting graphs, calculating rates of change, comparing percentages, and making sense of data. But they are also asking questions, questions like:
Why does the data look this way?
Who is represented?
Who isn't represented?
What might have caused these changes?
What could we do differently in the future?
To me, that is what meaningful mathematics should look like.
And maybe that is where we start to develop the next generation of pioneers.
Hispanic Heritage Month also provides an opportunity to look further back in history. The Maya developed a sophisticated base-20 number system that included a symbol for zero and used positional notation. The Aztecs also used a base-20 number system in areas such as trade and record keeping. These are important reminders that mathematical ideas have developed across cultures and civilizations for thousands of years.
I think this is especially important in a middle school mathematics classroom. Students are often taught mathematical concepts without much context about where those ideas came from or how mathematics has developed over time. We can spend an entire class period teaching students about place value or different number systems without ever discussing the cultures that developed and used them.
Bringing those connections into the classroom can help students understand that mathematics is a human endeavor. People created, explored, questioned, experimented, and developed these ideas. People were pioneers and they didn't all look the same, speak the same language, or come from the same place. Representation matters too!
When students see mathematicians like Federico Ardila, Omayra Ortega, Maricela Cruz, Ricardo Cortez, Alicia Prieto Langarica, and Carlos Castillo-Chavez, they are seeing examples of people using mathematics in very different ways. Some are working in combinatorics, some in statistics, some in public health, some in mathematical biology, and some in mathematical modeling. Their paths are different, but they all demonstrate that mathematics can open doors to many different careers and opportunities. More importantly, their stories remind us that the future of mathematics is not already written.
For me, this goes back to one of the most important parts of teaching: belonging. Students need to feel safe, valued, and capable in our classrooms. They need to know that their experiences and identities matter. They also need opportunities to see people who share different backgrounds and experiences succeeding in the subjects we teach. If we want students to become pioneers, they first need to believe that they belong in the room.
Hispanic Heritage Month gives us a chance to do that.
But it also reminds me that celebrating culture in school should not be limited to one month. Hispanic Heritage Month provides a starting point, but the goal should be to create classrooms where diverse voices, histories, and contributions are part of the learning throughout the year.
As educators, we have a responsibility to teach the content, but we also have a responsibility to teach students. Sometimes that means making a mathematical connection. Sometimes it means introducing students to someone they have never heard of. Sometimes it means changing the examples we use or the stories we tell, but more importantly it means creating a space where a student can see themselves reflected in what they are learning.
Together We are More
We often think of pioneers as individuals. But change rarely happens because of one person. It happens when people share ideas, learn from each other, challenge one another, and work together toward something better. That is also the environment that I strive to create in my classroom:
A place where students can explore, question, make mistakes and see themselves.
Mathematics is more than numbers, formulas, and procedures. It is a human story that has been shaped by people from cultures and communities all over the world. Hispanic Heritage Month gives us an opportunity to celebrate some of those stories, recognize the pioneers who came before us, and encourage our students to become the pioneers who will shape the future.
We don't know what the next great mathematical idea will be, but we do know that the person who discovers it could be sitting in our classroom today!
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