ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic brought booming economies, seemingly world-class health care systems, educational infrastructures, and the lives and wellbeing of nations to a complete standstill. Georgia was one of the few states that released their Shelter-in-Place order early, while reports suggest that Black communities have disproportionally higher rates of deaths and hospitalizations. What mathematics would allow students to critically examine the data shared and other data reported about the COVID-19 pandemic? In this essay, we apply a culturally relevant pedagogical (CRP) lens to examine the mathematics curriculum taught in K-12 schools before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, we consider the shortcomings of the curriculum given the impact of the pandemic on Black communities in Atlanta, Georgia, and the barrage of statistics used to inform their lives. We consider how to look at mathematics curriculum through a CRP lens and what that means in terms of the scope of standards that are being addressed and the flexibility for teachers to have autonomy to go beyond the prescribed curriculum. Two concentration areas are addressed, and they highlight how to use a CRP lens for secondary and elementary mathematics relevant to our local context in ways that envision how mathematics curriculum can support Black children moving forward.
ABSTRACT
In the context of COVID-19, we often ask ourselves what conditions favor the spread of zoonoses. Recent reviews point to its direct relationship with the decline in biodiversity due to habitat destruction or land use changes. When this occurs, some species become extinct, but those that survive and thrive, such as some rodents, are more likely to harbor pathogens that can affect humans. Our research focused on the study of molecular systematics and population genetic structure in rodent hosts of Mammarenavirus and Orthohantavirus affecting humans. From the analysis of phylogenetic relationships in Oligoryzomys and Calomys in South America, we were able to resolve contradictory taxonomic reports, obtaining the following rodent/viral genotype relationships in the endemic areas of Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS) in Argentina: Patagonia: O. longicaudatus/Andes;northwestern Argentina: O. occidentalis/Bermejo, O. chacoensis/Oran and C. fecundus/Laguna Negra;Misiones: O. nigripes/Juquitiba;Southern Litoral, Parana River Delta and the coast of the Uruguay River: O. flavescens/Lechiguanas and exceptionally, O. nigripes/Lechiguanas. We also detected the following rodent/mammarenavirus relationships: C. musculinus/Junin, C. venustus and C. fecundus/Latino-like. We observed that, in general, in conserved environments, the abundance of rodents was low although with high species diversity, while in places with greater disturbance, less diversity but a greater abundance of species transmitting zoonoses was found. It is not surprising then that the Argentine hemorrhagic fever endemic area is strongly associated with crops of the Humid Pampas and that HPS endemic areas are located in regions with high deforestation and introduction of crops or invasive exotic species. In times of pandemics, we should think about how diseases arise when our species advances over natural environments.