Leveraging Student Language to Teach a Mathematical Concept

• In Event: Sunday Roundtable Session 7:45 am
  In Roundtable Session: Language and Discourse in Mathematics Education (Table 6)

Abstract

A sixth-grade teacher who taught at a highly diverse school participated in professional development activities during the 2022-23 school year to learn about and implement an instructional protocol designed specifically for use during problem-solving based lessons. The protocol is intended to guide teachers to simultaneously attend to developing their students’ mathematical reasoning and learning of the mathematics register. This study contributes to the research literature by providing an example of how student generated language can be leveraged to assist students make sense of and learn a mathematical concept. In addition, the example given reveals how language can “carry” a mathematical concept in the sense that language can help students create a mental image of that concept.

Author

• Richard Kitchen, University of Wyoming