Using Action Research to Detect and Reduce Bias in Mathematics Classroom Discourse

• In Event: 45.046 - Teacher Learning to Position Students as Capable in Class Discussions: Looking Across Subject Matter Domains

Abstract

Purpose. For six years we partnered with mathematics teacher-researchers (TRs) doing action research on their classroom discourse. The TRs piloted a set of PD materials focused on supporting mathematics teachers as they facilitate classroom discourse (Authors, 2017). These materials offer a set of “teacher discourse moves” (TDMs) to use as alternatives to IRE and conceptual lenses from systemic functional linguistics and positioning theory to interpret the use of the TDMs.

As partner TRs opened up space for students, they began to question which students were getting access to quality participation. To address these questions, five TRs began using a web-based tool (Authors, 2018) designed to help teachers identify patterns of implicit bias, or “the attitudes or stereotypes that affect our understanding, actions, and decisions in an unconscious manner” (Staats, et al., 2016, p. 14). Studies have found that boys receive a disproportionately greater number of high-level questions than girls (Sadker, Sadker, & Zittleman, 2009). Other studies have found similar patterns with respect to race (McAfee, 2014). Research using this tool has shown that subtle inequities can emerge even in classrooms with experienced, equity-minded teachers (Authors, 2018).

In this presentation, we describe: 1) changes to classroom discourse across Years 1-4, and 2) findings from the TRs’ who used the web-based tool in Year 5.

Data and Methods. Classroom videos from three classrooms in Years 1, 3, and 4 were transcribed and coded for: who was called on and when; teachers’ use of TDMs; and attention to issues of teacher authority. The data related to the online tool included video-recording and coding of classroom discussions, focusing on the types of TRs’ questions, and the kinds and length of student responses. TRs reflected on the online tool’s analytics four times across the 2017-18 AY. We are currently analyzing transcripts from these reflection meetings.

Findings. From Years 1-4, we found that TRs called on more than twice as many students and students’ turns were considerably longer. Students began to respond to each other’s thinking by agreeing/disagreeing, building on, and explaining how they learned from another student. TRs use of the TDMs varied, but were incorporated 4-5 times more frequently. The most dramatic shifts occurred in the use of Asking students to revoice and Creating opportunities to engage with another’s reasoning. We also found TRs assigned competence more frequently.

Preliminary analysis of Year 5 data shows that all TRs called on girls as much or more than boys in their classrooms. Black student participation was proportional or overrepresented for 3 of the 5 TRs, but in those same classrooms Latinx student participation was significantly underrepresented. In the paper, we detail specific strategies TRs developed and implemented to attenuate bias, as well as challenges they faced.

Significance. We as a field must address questions about which students get access to quality participation if we want to address inequities in mathematics classrooms. This study explores the ways in which particular tools enable teachers to reflect on their students’ participation, and to make changes to broaden that participation.

Authors

• Beth A. Herbel-Eisenmann, Michigan State University

• Niral Shah, University of Washington