Income inequality is a central social justice concern, and hence excellent motivation for real-world applications in mathematics classrooms at every level. We describe the "Mathematics for Social Justice" course at Saint Michael's College, giving a specific example of one of the typical social justice projects for the course, and showing…

It is now increasingly recognized that mathematics is not a neutral value-free subject. Rather, mathematics can challenge students' taken-for-granted realities and promote action. This article describes two issues, namely deforestation and income inequality. These were specifically chosen because they can be related to a range of calculus concepts…

We provide context and motivation for an instructor to use real-life examples in the calculus classroom. To this end we describe two specific project ideas, one related to the devastating impact of methylmercury fungicide in a grain seed supply and the other to a catastrophic methane leak. By using calculus in contexts that have social justice…