Search

In this literature synthesis, the three authors bring their embodied voices to collectively retrace the political-cultural-racialized-gendered topographies where key conceptualizations of language, mathematics, and the learner have emerged. Recognizing that they themselves have never been outside these landscapes as mere objective observers, the authors project their situated voices to critically consider--always with a sense of ownership and responsibility--what the field of language and mathematics research has done with/to these conceptualizations. These critical considerations are intended as a collective reminder that the field of language and mathematics education research can move forward by (re)engaging a dialogue between "what is" and "what could be" In this sense, the purpose of this literature synthesis is not to report yet another state of the art in the field, but rather to pierce through ongoing discourses to re-engage the field in reimagining possibilities for reopening, revising, and reimagining the concepts, methodologies, and philosophies that inform research in language and mathematics education. The synthesis concludes with a discussion of how and why our multivocal literature synthesis matters in the field of mathematics education research.

Background/Context: There is much to understand about how parents and children interact around mathematics, particularly with families whose home language is different from the children's main language of schooling. Families of immigrant origin are likely to bring experiences and knowledge that may be different from what their children's schools expect or value. Educators can benefit greatly from a better understanding of these experiences and the nature of the parent--child mathematical interactions. Purpose/Focus of Study: Learning about and from the nature of parent--child mathematical interactions can support the in-school learning of mathematics of bilingual children. We use positioning theory to explore the question, "What are the positions in parent--child interactions during mathematics tasks?" Setting: The context for our study is workshops designed to engage families in explorations of mathematical tasks from the school curriculum, with a focus on conceptual understanding and problem-solving. The workshops were bilingual; most parents were of Mexican origin and had Spanish as their primary language, while their children were being taught in English at school. The workshops built on two related theoretical concepts: funds of knowledge and parents as intellectual resources. Research Design: This study focuses on interactions between parents and children around mathematics. We did a purposeful selection of video clips from the workshop recordings. In this article, we focus on two cases that present two different contexts, a game situation and a more school-like mathematics activity. We used positioning theory to interpret how the mothers and children related with each other and therefore interactively positioned themselves and each other. Findings: In both cases, mothers and daughters held the position of knowledge holders, and their positions changed in moment-to-moment interactions. Also, while at times, the mothers exerted a position of authority as mothers, they did not use this position to impose their views; rather, they engaged with their daughters in the learning process. The mothers and their daughters drew on their everyday ways of being (e.g., playfulness, translanguaging) in their mathematical interactions. The interactions showed instances of co-learning, that is, adapting and learning from each other. Conclusions/Recommendations: The mothers and daughters in this study drew on their everyday ways of being, including their cultural and linguistic funds of knowledge, during the mathematical interactions. Teachers can improve their practice by learning about these interactions. It is important to explore how educators can develop co-learning environments in the classroom that support collaborative sensemaking.

Background: Making mathematics connections between home and school can have a positive impact on students' mathematics learning. This is particularly important for students whose experiences and perspectives are underrepresented in school curricula. Although there is evidence for how crucial it is to make connections between mathematics instruction and children's lived experiences, doing so is often a challenging task for teachers. Purpose: This study examines what teachers in two different settings--a dual language school and a Structured English Immersion school--learned from engaging in a mathematics collaboration with Latina mothers. We share the teachers' perceptions of their students' and families' mathematics' strengths and how they envisioned their future mathematics teaching. Research Design: This qualitative interpretive study explored how 15 teachers from two states made sense of their experiences working together in a two-year mathematics collaboration with mothers from their school community. We collected multiple teacher reflections and artifacts, and administered a small group interview with teachers and parents and an individual teacher interview. We used an iterative analysis by demarcating the words that pertained to the different data sources, as we looked for patterns of the teachers' key ideas. We summarized the key ideas across the data sources that resulted in six major themes. Findings: The key findings in this study reveal that the teachers learned from the mothers more about their students' lives outside of school, the mothers' mathematics background, and ways to create multiple channels of communication with the mothers. The teachers also learned about the significant contributions that the mothers make to their children's mathematics education and the importance of honoring the mothers' ways of doing mathematics in their mathematics teaching. The teachers shared how the collaboration with the mothers helped to serve as a guide to leverage their students' learning of mathematics in Spanish and English. Conclusions/Recommendations: This study suggests that mathematics collaborations between teachers and parents can be highly beneficial to student learning. It showcases the importance of providing teachers with opportunities to learn about the rich mathematics knowledge that parents from diverse backgrounds possess. This study also demonstrates that creating authentic relationships that enhance mutual understandings between teachers and parents can be key in supporting Latinx students' mathematics learning. We recommend that these types of collaborations between teachers and parents be considered part of the preparation of preservice teachers as well as the professional learning of in-service teachers.

Mathematics education researchers agree that students' mathematical learning can be positively impacted by making connections to their out of school experiences through a funds of knowledge lens. This is especially important for diverse students whose experiences are often underrepresented in school curricula. Making these connections can be challenging for teachers whose experiences often differ from their students. We examine how conversations between preservice teachers and Latina mothers influenced the teachers' creation of a mathematics lesson that connected to students' out of school experiences. Findings suggest the importance of offering preservice teachers opportunities to learn from parents about their children's out of school experiences.

This paper focuses on a group of mothers of immigrant origin as they engage in explorations and conversations about mathematics. We examine how bringing in tasks that draw on their children's school mathematics, and on the participants' knowledge and experiences, can inform us about their understanding of mathematics and provide opportunities to further enhance this understanding. Our analysis centers on two different types of mathematical tasks, both with rich potential for adult numeracy education. The first type of task engages the mothers in school mathematics through an exploration of addition and subtraction. In the second type of task, we look at mothers as adult learners working on two mathematical problem solving tasks, with different levels of connections to their everyday experiences. The findings point to a relationship between the type of context (everyday based versus school based) and the nature of the adult learners' mathematical sense making and engagement with the tasks. While there was some initial apprehension towards the school based tasks, the direct connection to what their children are learning was a strong motivator. The everyday based tasks bring up the potential tension between everyday mathematics and academic mathematics. The more the task connected to their everyday knowledge, the more the mothers drew on their experience to offer approaches that made sense from a practical point of view. We argue that these different types of tasks can complement each other in working with adult learners to enhance their numeracy skills.

University of Arizona's Marta Civil has been studying the complexities of bridging in-school and out-of-school mathematics for some time, during which she has raised specific questions related to connecting in-school and out-of-school mathematics (Civil, 2002, 2007, 2014). These questions have to do with "What is mathematics?" "Where is the mathematics?" "How are different mathematical practices valued, by whom, and where?" In Civil (2014) she raised further questions about "What is competence?" "What is the interplay between task, setting, and engagement?" and "How do languages (as in English and Spanish, for example) and affective elements interact when doing mathematics?" In particular, she discusses these questions in relation to in-school and out-of-school settings. Civil believes that mathematics educators (teachers, school administrators, university faculty, etc.) need to take a more holistic approach toward the mathematics education of students, and in particular of marginalized students. In this commentary, she provides some general context for her research, in terms of who the participants are and how she approaches her work. She then expands upon her belief in taking a more holistic approach through the "voices" of several students and their parents with whom she has interacted over the years.

This study addresses the pressing need to recognize and include disenfranchised students within mathematics education in a way that incorporates the voices of their communities. We use the concept of boundary practices to point to the multiple ways in which the mathematics learning practices in a classroom connect or disconnect, include or exclude, adults as a resource for a culturally responsive pedagogy. Case studies developed through ethnographic methods of data collection allow an in-depth analysis and exploration of emergent themes. Our data suggest that the nature of the community of practice plays a critical role in establishing relationships with parents. Parental involvement is distributed and influenced by the nature and history of the community, as well as by the identities of the participants. Finally, our data indicate that a culturally relevant pedagogy facilitates an egalitarian dialogue with parents and between parents and children.

In this paper we discuss a study that looks at the kinds of practices that Latino parents use to support their children's learning of mathematics. Some of our findings reveal that parents react to their children's mathematics education looking back to their own experiences as students. Thus, in some cases, they are faced with pedagogical strategies unfamiliar to them. This may lead to conflict but also to possibilities for exchange of strategies and learning for both parties, children and parents. Our study shows the resourcefulness among parents who not only had different learning experiences but also may encounter a language barrier. Parents turn to the community for help, such as taking their children to the community centre, or asking other family members or neighbors for help with homework. There are also parents who express some concern about the level of the mathematics that their children are studying. Some parents deliberately engage with their children in activities that promote and require explicit display of mathematical reasoning and knowledge. Our findings point to the different ways in which community, family and school are connected.

The authors' work aims to expand the vision of parent participation in school mathematics, in particular the role of mothers from diverse ethnocultural and low socioeconomic groups. The experience of some mothers has led them to believe that their role is limited and that their ability to voice their opinions and concerns is hampered by the traditional school structure. Through their involvement in MAPPS (Math and Parent Partnerships in the Southwest), parents have had experiences that took them through a series of processes that provide the authors with a different vision for parental participation in mathematics education. The vision consists of four components: (1) Parents as Parents (i.e., parents originally joined MAPPS because they want to help their children with their mathematics education); (2) Parents as Learners (parents become learners for themselves; some even pursue further education); (3) Parents as Teachers (parents become facilitators of mathematics workshops for other parents in the community); and (4) Parents as Leaders (e.g., parents become advocates for the education of not only their children but for all the children in the district). This article elaborates on these components based on the parents' own reflections. (Contains 1 note.)

In this article, we use multimodality to examine how bilingual students interact with an area task from the National Assessment of Educational Progress in task-based interviews. Using vignettes, we demonstrate how some of these students manipulate the concrete materials, and use gestures, as a primary form of structuring their explanations and making mathematical meaning. We use our results as a basis to challenge the possible deficit perspective of bilingual students' mathematical knowledge in current assessment practices. Choosing tasks that afford multiple modes of engagement and recognizing multimodal explanations in assessment practices has the potential to move us towards a better understanding of what bilingual students know and can do mathematically.

In this commentary, the authors explore how mathematics education research and the decisions mathematics education researchers (MERs) make to include (or not) an equity lens are not just choices; rather, they are political acts. MERs must take a hard look at themselves as human beings shaped by the political landscape of their different histories and experiences and understand how these histories and experiences affect their choices as researchers to question, understand, and ultimately transform mathematics education into a more clearly anti-oppressive and equitable human experience. For this to take place, MERs suggest being willing to enter a brave space in which some of their assumptions are questioned. MERs argue that addressing equity necessitates an intentional, collective, and professional responsibility that is taken up by all mathematics educators in multiple ways, levels, and settings. What is asked of the MER community is not new or easy, but it is necessary to gain transformative traction on this long-standing, thoroughly documented, and seemingly intractable problem of inequity in mathematics education.

The NCTM Research Committee identifies key influences on mathematics education that are largely outside the domain of the academic world in which most mathematics education researchers live. The groups that are identified--including the media, companies and foundations, and other academic domains--affect the public's perception of mathematics and mathematics education. They argue that mathematics education researchers can intervene to shift these storylines and positionings and have greater impact on policy, practice, and public perception in the future.

This article presents my rejoinder to Jrène Rahm's response to my article "STEM learning research through a funds of knowledge lens." I focus on four themes that emerged from my reading of her commentary: the importance of the histories of youth of immigrant origin; her comments on globality; the theoretical lens that she brings to my research; and the methodological issues she discusses. I highlight Rahm's humanizing component and the need to understand the complexity of immigration. What are we doing in our global settings to build on the diversity of experiences and backgrounds among the youth as a resource towards STEM learning? [For Jrène Rahm's "Stories of Learning, Identity, Navigations and Boundary Crossings in STEM in Non-Dominant Communities: New Imaginaries for Research and Action," to which this article responds, see EJ1091571.]

This article examines STEM learning as a cultural process with a focus on non-dominant communities. Building on my work in funds of knowledge and mathematics education, I present three vignettes to raise some questions around connections between in-school and out-of-school mathematics. How do we define competence? How do task and environment affect engagement? What is the role of affect, language, and cognition in different settings? These vignettes serve to highlight the complexity of moving across different domains of STEM practice--everyday life, school, and STEM disciplines. Based on findings from occupational interviews I discuss characteristics of learning and engaging in everyday practices and propose several areas for further research, including the nature of everyday STEM practices, valorization of knowledge, language choice, and different forms of engagement.

This article focuses on argumentation in mathematics classrooms in two different geographic contexts, the US and New Zealand. Drawing on data from a case with immigrant students (Pasifika) in NZ and a case with Mexican American students in the US, we argue for the need to study the concept of argumentation through a cultural and language lens. Our analysis across the two cases points to common features that supported students' engagement in argumentation. Building relationships and encouraging and supporting students to be themselves are seen as resources for argumentation. The similarities across two very different contexts are striking. As we think of how to develop environments that support non-dominant students' participation in mathematical argumentation, we may want to learn from and build on students' cultural ways of being.