Teen Talk Tuesday - Hispanic/Latinx Heritage Month Part 1 of 2...

10/06/2020 - Historical Hispanic/Latinx Mathematicians

Historical Hispanic/Latinx Mathematicians

Last year, I wrote a general blog post about celebrating Hispanics/Latinxs in math.

This year, I'd like to revisit it but specifically for today's Teen Talk topic...because there are a lot of tweens, preteens, and teens out there who struggle in math, and are of Hispanic/Latin descent.

We educators often want these students to have role models to look up to. If it could spark even just a little bit of confidence or grit to persevere in learning and doing math, it's worth it.

However, it's actually really important for children from ALL backgrounds and walks of life to know that mathematicians come in all colors AND cultures. In this day and age, and current political and societal climate, it's also relevant and vital to point out how people from all colors and cultures contribute to the growth of society, to America.

That being said, since it's National Hispanic Heritage Month, the time set aside in the US to recognize Hispanic/Latin American contributions, I'd like to highlight a Hispanic/Latin American mathematician during its remaining two weeks. This week focuses on a historical figure - Júlio César de Mello e Souza (1895-1974).

What...I'd love every student struggling with math to take away is that although he seemed to have struggled as a child, he not only overcame that to succeed at math, but then became a math teacher himself AND taught other math teachers!

Júlio César de Mello e Souza

Júlio was a Brazilian writer and mathematics professor. A few things that stand out to me about his life is that:

1. As a child, he was labeled a failure at math;

2. He was a great storyteller;

3. Even though being considered a failure at math, he became a well-known math professor and teacher educator;

4. He believed heavily in teaching math by making it relevant to real life and the use of inquiry, manipulatives and exploration;

5. He was an author and wrote many entertaining books involving, believe it or not, mathematics; and

6. He believed in and employed the idea of gamification in his teaching, way before his time!

What really stood out to me that I'd love every student struggling with math to take away is that although he seemed to have struggled as a child, he not only overcame that to succeed at math, but then became a math teacher himself AND taught other math teachers! May Professor Júlio's life be an example to every struggling student out there that there is hope!

What do your kids think of their ability to succeed in math or in STEM overall? Does it help for them to see people they can look up to succeed in math or in STEM overall? Does it help them to know that even some of the greatest mathematicians struggled when they were younger? Share your thoughts in the comments below! Let's start a discourse!

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Hi! I'm Christina and I'm an online math tutor with 20+ years experience mentoring, teaching and tutoring young people. My goal is to empower students all over the world to succeed by helping them overcome their struggles and anxiety in one of their toughest academic areas, math! If you are interested in 1-1 assistance for yourself or your child, feel free to contact me: www.cmamathtutoring.com/contact-me.