What happens when mathematics, computer programming, and bilingual education come together in an afterschool program for Latine elementary students? And what does it look like when those same kids become the teachers?

In this episode, Theodore sits down with three co-authors of Chapter 10: Learning More Mathematics by Cracking the Code: Promoting Algebraic Thinking through Computer Programming from Antiracist Mathematics Education, Dr. Carlos LópezLeiva, Dr. Sylvia Celedón-Pattichis, and Dr. Marios Pattichis. Together, they share the story behind AOLME (Advancing Out-of-school Learning in Mathematics and Engineering), a program born out of the belief that students in Title I, bilingual communities deserve access to the same doors that computer science and engineering can open.

The conversation traces a 20-year arc, from the early days of CEMELA and the inspiration of La Clase Mágica, to after-school programs where kids used Legos to understand pixels and came up with their own ways of explaining hashtags and coding syntax, in Spanish, in English, and in their own language. One student, a decade ago, looked at a computer and said, "computer, write me a program." He was right on time with predicting how we use AI to code today.

What makes this episode special is how personal it gets. Marios learned to code from an English textbook while he was still learning English. Sylvia and Carlos made the push to bring this work from out-of-school spaces into classrooms, so it wouldn't just reach the kids who chose to show up. The students who went through the program came back as co-facilitators, teaching older students, building identity, and in some cases going on to study engineering. And their daughters were part of the story too.

Shari, Shakiyya, and Teddy then reflect on what this chapter means for the moment we're in now, a moment when AI is everywhere and the math education community is still figuring out how to respond. Should students be coding? Should we be teaching them to think critically about the systems being built around them? And what does it look like to use mathematics not just to solve problems, but to create something?

Shakiyya closes with a question from page 140 of the book: "How often do your students use mathematics to create something?"

Plus, the food! Huevos rancheros, red and green chile, chicken mole enchiladas, Greek salad with New Mexico chili, and piñon coffee!

This episode is part of the Season 5 TODOS Book Club series, aligned to the Teachers section of Antiracist Mathematics Education. The next Book Club meeting is March 25. Join us!

The transcript.

Links to Resources:

Web App for Image Generator

http://ivpcl.unm.edu/ivpclpages/Research/aolme/app/interactive-img-v2.html

AOLME/ESTRELLA Curriculum https://aolme.unm.edu/WebsiteModel/template/index.html

AIML Project: 

https://github.com/pattichis/AIML 

https://github.com/pattichis/AI4All-Med