Supporting Individual Mathematical Identity Development in the Course of Instruction

• In Event: Unpacking the Learning and Benefits of STEM Engagement Across Formal and Informal Learning Contexts

Abstract

Over the last 30 years, in the field of mathematics education, there has been a growing interest in the notion of mathematical identity—one’s sense of self in relation to mathematics (Bishop, 2012; Martin, 2000; Nasir, 2002)—and much important research on the topic. This is related to the theme of this symposium, STEM engagement, in that one of the motivations for studying students’ mathematical identities has been to understand their influence on how students engage in mathematical activities. Recent work in this area has suggested that the relationship between one’s mathematical identity and their engagement may depend on the alignment between this personal mathematical identity and the normative mathematical identity of the classroom—“both the general and the specifically mathematical obligations that delineate the role of an effective student in a particular classroom” (Cobb, Gresalfi, & Hodge, 2009).

In this paper, we share some recent empirical work that demonstrates how a teacher might encourage engagement in mathematical activities through broadening students’ sense of what mathematical identities are welcome in a classroom, in particular, to include identities that are often marginalized. We describe a case study of the work done, in a summer mathematics laboratory for rising 5th graders, by two co-teachers to support one student, Nevaeh, in shifting from being averse to sharing her mathematical thinking publicly to regularly vying to publicly share her thinking and describing herself as someone who is likely to now continue do so in her regular classroom.

The teachers encouraged Nevaeh to take up this new identity, as an important contributor to classroom mathematical discussions, by martialing various material, relational, and ideational identity resources—features of an environment that are used to position individuals (Nasir & Cook, 2009). For example, on the second day of class, after noticing that Neveah was averse to sharing her mathematical thinking publicly, but that she had formed a social relationship with a classmate, the two teachers leveraged that relational resource by asking the two students to present their work together. This approach was effective in that it had Neveah share some of her thinking publicly for the first time.

This study responds to calls to center the development of productive mathematical identities as a goal of mathematics instruction by theorizing how teachers can go beyond attending to the microculture of the classroom to support individual students in reconciling their personal mathematical identities with the normative identity in particular classrooms. As such, it provides empirical evidence that teachers can act with intention to position students in ways that promote positive identification and increased engagement with mathematical activity.

Authors

• Darrius D. Robinson, University of Michigan
  Presenting Author

• Nicolas Boileau, Ontario Council on Articulation and Transfer
  Non-Presenting Author

• Charles Wilkes, San Diego State University
  Non-Presenting Author