Missing Resources for Learning in Network-Supported Mathematics Learning?

• In Event: Learning Mathematics Through Networked Classroom Activities: 10 Years of Progress?

Abstract

This paper focuses on research designs and findings from studies in networked classrooms of non-dominant youths’ social and cultural practices as resources rather than liabilities for learning. The findings reported here focus on equity of participation and contribution in mathematics classrooms using HubNet and Participatory Simulations (PartSims; Wilensky & Stroup, 2000). While there have been many studies of networked activity conducted in schools serving significant numbers of underserved students (Wilensky, 2003; Hegedus & Kaput, 2003), few have examined the ways that linguistic, interactional, and community-specific repertoires of practice are valuable resources for youth and teachers pursuing rigorous mathematical learning (but see Ares, Stroup, & Schademan, 2004; Ares, 2007, 2008). An important parallel focus is in Schorr and Goldin’s (2008) work that situates students’ affect and motivation in both networked classrooms and the larger social context of under-resourced schools. Recognizing the value students placed on being treated with dignity and respect among students, they demonstrate how networked activities (SimCalc MathWorlds, (Kaput & Roschelle 1997; Schorr, 2003) supported students’ highly motivated, affectively engaged learning “conceptually challenging mathematics” (p. 135). Studies reviewed in this paper on students’ use of culturally derived cognitive, linguistic and interactional resources that are often dismissed or ignored in classrooms under-served youth are complementary to that work in terms of settings: “where social conditions seem discouraging—for example, where relatively low institutional expectations prevail, where students’ mathematical understanding and potential go unnoticed, or where school instruction is primarily directive, procedural, and/or test-oriented” (Schorr & Goldin, 2008, p. 133). They are also complementary in terms of assumptions about non-dominant youth as being rich in learning resources.
Findings from a family of studies in networked classrooms show how engaging in generative activities using Participatory Simulations can invite non-dominant youths’ use of social and cultural practices as resources. They also pinpoint particular affordances of the system itself for broadening the space of participation beyond what is often found in conventional classrooms (Ares, 2008; Ares, Stroup, & Schademan, 2008; Stroup, Ares, & Hurford, 2005). Important for this panel discussion, such studies haven’t gained much traction in the connected classroom research community as well as in mathematics classroom practice and grant funding. Further, the kinds of networked activities and technological affordances found in HubNet and PartSims are not used ubiquitously. This is problematic for our research community’s efforts around equity. Also, the mismatch between many school curricula (and testing regimes) and these activities, as well as the lack of focus on “minorities’ ” resources (rather than deficits), militates against implementation of this kind of classroom activity. These and similar challenges will be addressed in the conclusion of the paper.

Author

• Nancy Ares, University of Rochester