“Make Them Fly…”: Prioritizing Problem Solving and Transferring Mathematical Concepts in a Bilingual Kindergarten Classroom

• In Event: Reimagining Mathematics Teaching Quality for K-12 English Language Learners and Latina/o Students

Abstract

The purpose of this case study is twofold: 1) to understand how a bilingual kindergarten teacher draws from linguistic and cultural resources to engage low-income Latina/o students in rigorous mathematics and 2) to demonstrate how she builds a Mathematics Discourse Community (MDC) (Willey, 2010) that helps students transfer concepts from Spanish to English.
We draw from Cognitively Guided Instruction (CGI) (Carpenter et al., 1999), a framework on students’ mathematical thinking and problem solving strategies, to present how this kindergarten teacher posed challenging mathematical problems to Latina/o students from low-income backgrounds. We also draw from the work of Willey to gain insights on how this teacher created a Mathematics Discourse Community that valued students’ native and second languages to construct mathematical meaning. We argue that, in order to raise the unacceptable low scores of Latinas/os in mathematics, students must learn mathematics with understanding and use first language as a pedagogical resource. Contextually based word problems provide a rich opportunity for young students to develop a solid foundation in mathematical concepts. Latino young students come to school with a wide range of cultural and linguistic tools, which teachers can use as intellectual resources to help students make sense of problems posed in the classroom (Civil, 2007; González, Amanti, and Moll, 2005). It is important to make mathematics concepts accessible to students in their first language because that helps them to transfer the same concepts from the first language to the second language (Cummins, 1986, 2001; Khisty & Chval, 2002; Moschkovich, 2007a).
This case study was conducted in a Southwestern bilingual kindergarten classroom with a predominantly low-income Latina/o student population. The data sources included videotaped lessons from the beginning, middle, and end of the year, teacher interviews, and student work from mathematics journals. Data analysis involved coding the transcripts of the selected videotaped lessons and interviews focusing on patterns of instruction, the linguistics and cultural resources, and specific scaffolding strategies. Student work was analyzed in search for evidence of mathematical learning. Data analysis demonstrate how the teacher contextualized problems appropriate for kindergarten students, the strategies used to scaffold the building of academic language and the transferring of mathematical concepts from the native language to English, and how Spanish-speaking students solved problems and explained their thinking in English.
Findings indicate that this teacher used students’ culture as an intellectual resource to make connections to mathematics problem solving, to pose problems in an informal storytelling manner including rich contextual information, to create a language-rich environment, and to encourage students to use multiple resources to communicate their thinking. She purposefully focused on developing a MDC in Spanish and English and created the conditions for students to transfer mathematical concepts to English.
This study contributes to the body of research on effective mathematics teaching practices for low-income Latina/o students, specifically addressing how a teacher can create a rich learning environment that integrates challenging mathematics and fosters language development granting Latina/o students with real opportunities to be successful with mathematics.

Authors

• Sylvia Celedon-Pattichis, University of New Mexico

• Sandra I. Musanti, The University of Texas - Brownsville