Parents as Learners and Teachers of Mathematics: Toward a Two-Way Dialogue.

Three Spanish-speaking mothers of middle-school children, a relative of one of the mothers, a school librarian, and the researcher met regularly to establish a collaborative, two-way dialogue which would encourage social and educational equality and that would take contributions into consideration according to the validity of reasoning rather than the positions of power held by the contributors. The group had met in the past to discuss literature, and with the switch to mathematics, the researcher was concerned that the participants would not relate to the material as well as they had to literature and that the roles of teacher and student would be more clearly demarcated leading to less collaboration. The workshop met every two to three weeks and one of the main questions that arose was whether the researcher should treat the participants primarily as adult learners or as mothers. Through dialogues on algebra and geometry that arose through the mothers teaching the researcher the paper cutting technique calld "papel picado,"a trust was established in which the researcher was able to share her expertise while the participants were able to teach her some of their own skills that involved mathematics. The new context of learning through dialogue led to greater confidence among the participants, which improved their math learning skills. (Contains 17 references.) (MO)