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Diplomas / Degrees

Ph.D., Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto (2003)
B.Ed., Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto (1999)
M.A., Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology, University of Toronto (1995)
B.A., Department of Mathematics, McGill University (1987)

Recent Courses

Critical Literacy In Mathematics And Science Education
Instruction And Assessment In Mathematics Education
S/T: Literacies Of Math, Sciences And Technology
S/T: Promoting Mathematical Thinking And Communicating In Grades 5-8
Secondary Mathematics Content,Pedagogy & Assessment: Learning From Master Teachers

Personal Statement

As a teacher educator, I encourage my pre-service teachers to ask difficult questions, beginning with the most challenging: why teach mathematics? My aim is to help teachers envision a mathematics learning experience that is less fragmented and less detached than the perceived norm. I use Ole Skovsmose’s notion of a “critical mathematics education” and emphasize the importance of bringing a socio-cultural lens to the mathematics classroom. I believe that mathematics teachers benefit from reflecting on the theory that informs their practice. My hope is that my students will become flexible, innovative and reflexive practitioners who are dedicated to life-long learning. I draw on my background in the history of mathematics in order to democratize and demystify mathematical knowledge, and to reveal its contingent historicity. My commitment to cultivating student voice and agency in the math classroom follows from my belief that mathematics is often perceived as a silent form of graphism or inscriptional practice that defers meaning and reference. Pedagogy that interrogates the taken-for-granted of mathematics education can create new spaces where alternative visions of learning are pursued.

Teaching Specializations / Interests

Mathematics education, Arts-informed research practices, Narrative inquiry, Critical theory, Cultural studies.

Books

de Freitas, E. & Nolan, K. (Eds.). (2008). Opening the research text: Critical insights and in(ter)ventions into mathematics education.

de Freitas, E. (1998). Keel Kissing Bottom. Toronto: Random House.

Book Chapters

Showing first 5 of 7. View All

de Freitas E. (2008). Splitting teacher identity: The disjunction between personal narrative and procedural discourse in the mathematics classroom. In In T. Brown (Eds.). The psychology of mathematics education: A psychoanalytic displacement. (pp. ).

de Freitas E. (2008). Critical mathematics education: Recognizing the ethical dimension of problem solving. In In L. Wallowitz (Eds.). Reading as resistance: Social justice pedagogy. (pp. ).

de Freitas E. (2008). Fear of the Political; Timeless Pleasure; Writing as the intrusive third. In E. de Freitas & K. Nolan (Eds.). Opening the research text: Critical insights and In(ter)ventions into mathematics education. (pp. ).

Nolan, K & de Freitas, E. (2008). Foreword to the research text: Mathematics education under cross examination. In In E. de Freitas & K. Nolan (Eds.). Opening the research text: Critical insights and In(ter)ventions into mathematics education. (pp. ).

de Freitas, E. (2008). Interrogating reflexivity: Art, research, and the desire for presence. In In A.L Cole & J.G Knowles (Eds.). The Handbook of th Arts in Qualitative Research: Perspectives, methodologies, Examples, and Issues. (pp. ).

Recent Articles

Showing first 5 of 17. View All

de Freitas, E. (2009, 1). Mathematics and its other: Disclocating the feminine. Gender and Education, Accepted

de Freitas, E. & Paton, J. (2009, 1). (De) facing the self: Poststructural disruptions of the auto-ethnographis text. Qualitative Inquiry, accepted

de Freitas, E. (2008, 5). Bad intentions: Using fiction to interrogate research intentions. Educational Insights, Accepted

de Freitas, E. (2008, 3). Troubling teacher identity: Preparing mathematics teachers to teach for diversity. Teaching Education, Accepted.

de Freitas, E. (2008, 2). The 5th International Conference on Mathematics Education and Society. Enacting identity through narrative: Interrupting the procedural discourse in mathematics classrooms.

Conference Presentations and Papers

Showing first 5 of 24. View All

de Freitas, E. (01 March 2008). Opening the research text: Mathematics education under cross examination. The Annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, New York

de Freitas, E. (01 March 2008). Enacting gender through narrative: Performing masculinity in mathematics classrooms. The Annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, New York

de Freitas, E. (01 February 2008). Enacting identity through narrative: Interrupting the procedural discourse in mathematics classrooms. The 5th International Conference on Mathematics Education and Society, Portugal

de Freitas, E. (01 May 2007). Troubling teacher identity: Power, presence and procedure in the mathematics classroom. Qualitative Inquiry Congress, Urbana-Champagne, IL

de Freitas, E. (13 April 2007). The place of forgetting: How buildings address the learning self. The Annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Chicago, IL