Shifts in Positions, Authority, and Agency in a Secondary Mathematics Classroom

• In Event: Middle and High School Mathematics Discourse: Creating Learning Opportunities

Abstract

In this study, we examine how joint exploration is established and maintained as students and the teacher collaborate to investigate mathematical questions in a secondary mathematics classroom. Using the theoretical perspective of positioning to conceptualize joint exploration, we qualitatively analyze negotiation among participants to identify the interactional positions the teacher and students take up as evidenced by negotiation moves. We investigate the following research questions:

1. What positions do students and teachers take on while establishing and maintaining joint exploration?

2. How do shifts in positions reflect how authority and agency are distributed in joint exploration? 

Authors

• Nessrine Machaka, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

• Erika David Parr, Rhodes College

• Elizabeth B. Dyer, The University of Tennessee - Knoxville

• Christina Krist, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign