Constrasting Social and Sociomathematical Norms of Two Groups of Students in a Postsecondary Precalculus Class

This paper characterizes the engagement of two groups of students in a Precalculus course at a four-year public university. A set of "Multiple Solutions Activities" was designed for the course to expose groups of students to alternative solution methods, allowing instructors to explicitly negotiate productive norms to foster students' flexible knowledge. Over the duration of the semester, the groups developed contrasting social and sociomathematical norms. One group's norms seem to be particularly influenced by students' experience taking the same course the prior semester in a more traditional format. [For the complete proceedings, see ED629884.]