Use of a Collaborative Digital Math Curriculum to Teach for Belonging and Engagement

• In Event: Advancing Math Motivation, Engagement and Persistence: Insights from Digital Interventions and Research-Practice Partnerships

Abstract

Objectives: This poster will use classroom observation data from implementation of a digital math curriculum designed to support conceptual math understanding, collaboration, and discourse to understand how teachers use curriculum features to enact belonging-centered instructional practices.
Theoretical framework: Students’ positive identities as math learners are the basis for their persistence and success as they encounter increasing challenges in the middle and upper grades (Douglas and Attewell, 2017; Joseph, et al. 2017). But engagement in math declines significantly during the middle grades, particularly for Black and Latinx students (Martin et al, 2015; Del Toro & Wang, 2023). Instructional approaches that emphasize social connectedness and collaborative problem solving, connect math concepts to students’ lives and experiences, and create opportunities for shared intellectual authority support marginalized students’ math belonging and identities as capable math thinkers and doers (Boaler, 2015; Langer-Osuna, 2017; Radford, 2016).

[Platform1] is a digital math curriculum designed for whole-class instruction with an emphasis on collaborative problem solving and elevating students’ math thinking. [Platform1] includes specific teacher tools that allow teachers to set parameters for individual and group work (‘pause’ and ‘pace’) and select, sequence and share examples of student thinking (‘anonymize’ and ‘snapshot’). We use Matthews et al.s’ ( 2021) framework for belonging-centered instruction to understand how teachers using [Platform1] as a supplemental curriculum in middle-grades classrooms serving predominantly Black and Latinx, low-income students use [Platform1] features to support collaboration, belonging and shared authority.

Data and Methods: As part of a larger mixed-methods study, we coded observation data from 42 hours of class sessions across six schools where teachers used [Platform1] lessons as supplements to their typical curriculum. Each lesson was observed by two observers who recorded evidence of belonging-centered instructional practices and timing and content of independent work, pair and group work. Simultaneously, observers recorded instances of teacher use of specific [Platform1] features.

Results: Among belonging-centered instruction domains, we most frequently observed teacher practices associated with creating safety to be wrong, specifically task-focused encouragement and normalizing difficulty. These practices were most frequent during blocks of class time dedicated to individual, paired, or small-group work on [Platform1] activities. In less than half of observations, we observed practices associated with the decentering teacher authority domain, specifically engaging students’ expertise and honoring multiple ways of knowing and showing. These practices were more likely to coincide with use of the “snapshot” and “anonymize” [Platform1] features which allow them to select and display multiple examples of student solutions. While these practices also occurred without the use of [Platform1] features, we rarely observed practices associated with decentering teacher authority during lessons with the lowest rates of use of [Platform1] features.

Significance: As schools accelerate their adoption of digital math supports, this research offers early evidence that digital curricula with features designed to facilitate collaboration can support teachers’ use of practices associated with belonging and engagement. Future research could investigate whether professional learning aimed at increasing use of [Platform1] features can also increase consistent use of belonging-centered instruction practices.

Authors

• Sara McAlister, New York University

• Erika Abarca Millán, New York University