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Exploring elementary teachers’ facilitation of discussion in developing students’ mathematical agency
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Abstract:
There are few descriptions of what teachers do to facilitate discussions that support students’ development of mathematical agency. Likewise, little is known about how elementary students conceptualize their own agency. This study explored how teachers’ facilitation of mathematical discussions potentially fostered students’ mathematical agency. Additionally, this study investigated ways in which students conceptualized their own mathematical agency within these classrooms. This study was situated in an urban school with a linguistically, academically, and ethnically diverse student population. The sample consisted of two upper elementary school teachers and their pupils (n = 40). Data, collected during the 2018–19 school year, included 12 observations of mathematics lessons, 4 interviews with the teacher participants, and teacher questionnaires. Student data were collected using the Student Agency Questionnaire (SAQ) and group interviews. Mathematics lessons were videotaped, transcribed, and coded to discern ways in which teacher participants facilitated mathematical discussions. Two case studies focused on participants' classroom discussion practices were created. Themes that emerged from the case studies were that teacher participants fostered students’ mathematical agency through their facilitation of discussions by 1) creating a positive learning community; 2) supporting students’ willingness to publicly engage in mathematical discussions; and 3) sharing the power of teaching and learning. Analysis of the Student Agency Questionnaire (SAQ) data indicated that students in both teacher participant classrooms reported behaviors associated with mathematical agency. Observations and group interview data supported the SAQ results that students in both classrooms displayed mathematical agency. Student group interview data analysis showed that students who considered themselves doers of mathematics exhibited the following characteristics: habits of perseverance, a confident attitude about doing mathematics, and a willingness to actively engage with mathematics. This study provides evidence that teachers’ facilitation moves have the power to maintain and extend students’ mathematical agency. This study will contribute to the little empirical research available on supporting students’ mathematical agency in elementary classrooms. Further research should continue to investigate in a larger array of classrooms at varying levels (elementary, middle and high school).
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Keyword:
Agency; Discourse; Discussion; Facilitation; Mathematical agency; Mathematical identity; Mathematics education
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URL: https://hdl.handle.net/2144/44262
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