Addressing Mathematical Engagement and Agency
Role
Instructional Design Researcher
Background
As a math teacher, one of the most common questions you get from students is “when am I ever going to use this in real life?”. Because of questions like this, I sought to provide opportunities for them to engage with relevant math experiences by developing a curriculum that draws from the community and centers on student culture and experiences.
And so, for my Masters Inquiry Project, I set out to answer the following question:
How does a student’s incoming mathematical dispositions shape their engagement and sense of mathematical agency in the context Participatory Action Research?
Methodology
After drafting up a research plan and timeline, I decided to go with a mixed methods approach to gather both qual and quant data to better address my research question.
For quantitative data, I tracked student survey responses at two different points in the year. I asked students to rate on a scale of 0 to 10 based on how much they like math and also how useful they thought math was in their life. Students also needed to explain why they chose their respective rating. The purpose of this is to gauge any changes in mathematical dispositions might have from engaging in Participatory Action Research.
Timeline
Jan 2019 - April 2019
Methods
Interviews
Surveys
a) Most students attested to its financial importance like below:
“You use math to count your money”
“I chose a 9 because we need it most of the time in like in taxes”
b) Other students saw it as academically important, possibly because adults or older peers have told them so.
“I feel the math we are learning is useful because we are going to need it for upper grades”.
For additional qualitative data, I interviewed students about a memorable experience (positive/neutral/negative) they had with mathematics and then had each of them in turn interview a family member about a time when they used math to solve a problem or accomplish a goal. The purpose of this is for students to draw upon their family and their own community capital and funds of knowledge. This was crucial since it positioned students as not just research participants but also researchers.
Below are excerpts from family interviews:
“My dad constantly uses math to count up orders for lavash for his business. He has to keep in mind how many stores he has each day and has to calculate his ways to get the most out of his route too (he’s a truck driver). This means he needs to use a lot of math to calculate his hours on the road, and approximate amount of lavash each store will need and how much money he should make. He also has to make sure he can sell extra lavash to not lose money from his supplier”.
“I used Geometry to cut angles to make a dog house for my pet, that we purchased two years ago”.
Participatory Action Research
I needed to deconstruct my students’ initial conceptions of research and so I had them participate in an inclusion activity to challenge assumptions of what they thought research was. And to help them empathize, I also had them reenact skits representing historical examples of youth participatory action research. With a framework of understanding in place, I wanted them to reflect on what community meant to them and identify the different communities they were a part of. I asked them to record all the assets and issues that they observe within their communities and then select an issue they were interested in addressing and researching.
Shown below are a collection of issues that came up:
I asked students:
Why did you pick this topic?
Why is it important to you personally and to your community?
What are you hoping to change?”
Some students shared:
“It is important to our school because most of our school consists of darker skinned people which are affected by police brutality.”
“It’s important to Ben because his brother Abraham has been bullied. It’s important to this school because it affects the students and they wouldn’t feel safe.”
Students then developed a survey based on their issue and collected responses from at least 50 community members. Due to time constraints with the school year, the project ended here and students did not get a chance to present and propose an action plan based off their research.
Lessons Learned
Qualitative and quantitative data gathered from surveys and interviews was unfortunately left on the table. Instead, it should have been used to shape instruction and shared to recruit other teachers.
An interdisciplinary approach would have made this project more successful and addressed time constraints. Collaboration with English would allow students to go deeper when writing and reflecting on ideas around community whereas Science would have provided a space for students to refine their skills and quality of their survey writing. This allows for math to spend more time addressing standards when it comes to statistical data analysis