"Noticing and Wondering": A Mathematics Language Routine That Challenges the Spaces of Marginality

• In Event: Exploring and Disrupting Marginality and Inequity in Mathematics Classrooms

Abstract

“Noticing and Wondering” is a mathematical language routine that engages students in exploring, representing, and justifying their mathematical ideas. Since everyone has an entry point and opportunity to share their thinking with peers, this routine could be leveraged to challenge spaces of marginality. In this exploratory case study, we analyze how a class of third graders exercises disciplinary and conceptual agency in ways that interconnect mathematical authority among students, teacher, and text en route to building their identities as doers of mathematics. Findings from this study suggest that noticing and wondering mathematical language routines provides students with opportunities to engage in a mathematical activity within which they position themselves as learners and doers of mathematics.

Authors

• Dawn Woods, Oakland University

• Wesam M. Salem, University of Memphis