Power in Numbers: Student Participation in Mathematical Discussions in Heterogeneous Spaces

In this article, mathematics classrooms are conceptualized as heterogeneous spaces in which multiple figured worlds come into contact. The study explores how a group of high school students drew upon several figured worlds as they navigated mathematical discussions. Results highlight 3 major points. First, the students drew on 2 primary figured worlds: a mathematics learning figured world and a figured world of friendship and romance. Both of these figured worlds were racialized and gendered, and were actively constructed and contested by the students. Second, these figured worlds offered resources for 1 African American student, Dawn, to position herself powerfully within classroom hierarchies. Third, these acts of positioning allowed Dawn to engage in mathematical practices such as conjecturing, clarifying ideas, and providing evidence.

[1]  L. Vygotsky.  Mind in Society: The Development of Higher Psychological Processes: Harvard University Press , 1978 .

[2]  Judit N. Moschkovich,et al.  A Situated and Sociocultural Perspective on Bilingual Mathematics Learners , 2002 .

[3]  Frederick Erickson,et al.  Definition and Analysis of Data from Videotape: Some Research Procedures and Their Rationales , 2006 .

[4]  Paul Cobb,et al.  The emergence of mathematical meaning : interaction in classroom cultures , 2009 .

[5]  Frederick Erickson.  Talk and social theory : ecologies of speaking and listening in everyday life , 2004 .

[6]  Indigo Esmonde,et al.  Ideas and Identities: Supporting Equity in Cooperative Mathematics Learning , 2009 .

[7]  Paul Cobb,et al.  A Relational Perspective on Issues of Cultural Diversity and Equity as They Play Out in the Mathematics Classroom , 2002 .

[8]  Alan H. Schoenfeld,et al.  Problem solving in the United States, 1970–2008: research and theory, practice and politics , 2007 .

[9]  T. P. Carpenter,et al.  Teachers' attributions and beliefs about girls, boys, and mathematics , 1990 .

[10]  D. Holland.  Identity and Agency in Cultural Worlds , 1998 .

[11]  Kris D. Gutiérrez,et al.  Rethinking diversity: Hybridity and hybrid language practices in the third space , 1999 .

[12]  Paul Cobb,et al.  Culture, Identity, and Equity in the Mathematics Classroom , 2010 .

[13]  M. Pollock,et al.  Colormute: Race Talk Dilemmas in an American School , 2004 .

[14]  M. Cole.  Cultural psychology: a once and future discipline? , 1996, Nebraska Symposium on Motivation. Nebraska Symposium on Motivation.

[15]  Ian Hutchby,et al.  Power in Discourse: The Case of Arguments on a British Talk Radio Show , 1996 .

[16]  Ricki Goldman,et al.  Examining Shared Endeavors by Abstracting Video Coding Schemes With Fidelity to Cases , 2014 .

[17]  Rochelle Gutiérrez.  Research Commentary: A Gap-Gazing Fetish in Mathematics Education? Problematizing Research on the Achievement Gap , 2008, Journal for Research in Mathematics Education.

[18]  Annemarie S. Palincsar,et al.  The Case of Carla: Dilemmas of Helping All Students to Understand Science , 2002 .

[19]  G. Hatano,et al.  Construction of mathematical knowledge through whole-class discussion , 1998 .

[20]  S. Wortham.  From Good Student to Outcast: The Emergence of a Classroom Identity , 2004 .

[21]  N. Nasir,et al.  Wrestling with the Legacy of Stereotypes: Being African American in Math Class , 2010 .

[22]  I. Horn.  Turnaround Students in High School Mathematics: Constructing Identities of Competence Through Mathematical Worlds , 2008 .

[23]  Harvey Sacks,et al.  Lectures on Conversation , 1995 .

[24]  Kevin M. Leander,et al.  Silencing in Classroom Interaction: Producing and Relating Social Spaces , 2002 .

[25]  Jennifer M. Langer-Osuna,et al.  Toward a model of differential influence in discussions: Negotiating quality, authority, and access within a heated classroom argument , 2008 .

[26]  M. Eisenhart,et al.  Educated in Romance: Women, Achievement, and College Culture , 1991 .

[27]  Diane Resek,et al.  Interactive Mathematics Program: Year 2 , 2003 .

[28]  James G. Greeno,et al.  Constructing competence: an analysis of student participation in the activity systems of mathematics classrooms , 2009 .

[29]  Kpe Koeno Gravemeijer,et al.  A journey in mathematics education research : insights from the work of Paul Cobb , 2011 .

[30]  A. Su,et al.  The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics , 1932, The Mathematical Gazette.

[31]  Ronald F. Ferguson.  Teachers' Perceptions and Expectations and the Black-White Test Score Gap , 2003 .

[32]  A. Schoenfeld.  The Math Wars , 2004 .

[33]  Ricki Goldman,et al.  Conducting Video Research in the Learning Sciences: Guidance on Selection, Analysis, Technology, and Ethics , 2010 .

[34]  Kevin M. Leander,et al.  Ethnographic Studies of Positioning and Subjectivity: An Introduction , 2004 .

[35]  Danny Bernard Martin,et al.  Mathematics Learning and Participation as Racialized Forms of Experience: African American Parents Speak on the Struggle for Mathematics Literacy , 2006, Urban Parents' Perspectives on Children's Mathematics Learning and Issues of Equity in Mathematics Education.

[36]  Margaret Walshaw.  A Foucauldian Gaze on Gender Research: What Do You Do When Confronted with the Tunnel at the End of the Light? , 2001 .

[37]  A. S. Jurow,et al.  Shifting Engagements in Figured Worlds: Middle School Mathematics Students' Participation in an Architectural Design Project , 2005 .

[38]  M. Foucault,et al.  Power/Knowledge: Selected Interviews and Other Writings 1972-1977 , 1980 .

[39]  Jennifer M. Langer-Osuna.  How Brianna Became Bossy and Kofi Came Out Smart: Understanding the Trajectories of Identity and Engagement for Two Group Leaders in a Project-Based Mathematics Classroom , 2011 .