Participation, Knowledge and Beliefs: A Community Perspective on Mathematics Learning

In this paper I illustrate the use of a particular situated method of interpretation in my analysis of the data from 3-year case studies of two schools. The ‘constraints and affordances’ provided by different environments are shown to be key analytical tools in understanding the ways in which students develop and make use of knowledge. Various classroom incidents are analysed, demonstrating that the particular constraints and affordances of formalised mathematics classrooms, to which students become attuned, contribute to the development of learning identities that are peculiar to the school mathematics classroom and of limited use to students in the ‘real world’. An understanding of the mathematics classroom as a particular community of practice is central to this analysis.

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