Students' views on their transition from school to college mathematics: rethinking ‘transition’ as an issue of identity

By Paul Hernandez-Martinez, J. Williams, L. Black, P. Davis, Maria Pampaka, G. Wake. 2011

83 citations recorded by the source corpus.

We examine the transition from school (compulsory education) to college (post-compulsory/pre-university) of students who are continuing their mathematical education. Previous work on transition between institutions suggests that transitional problems can be critical, and students often regard mathematics as ‘difficult’ during transitional periods. However, our analysis of students' interviews showed a more positive discourse, one of reported challenge, growth and achievement; transition was not seen as an obstacle but as an opportunity to develop a new identity. Particularly in relation to mathematics, this was reflected in a need for a better understanding of the subject, and for being more responsible for their learning. Thus, we propose to re-think transition as a question of identity in which persons see themselves developing due to the distinct social and academic demands that the new institution poses. Conceptualising transition in this way could have important practical implications for the way that institutions support students' transition.

Subfields: Education, Modeling and Simulation

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/61b00c06cf245680fd652a408dd8bf9401082704

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Education

1. J. Williams
2. Graeme Hutcheson
3. Paul Hernandez-Martinez
4. Maria Pampaka
5. Lisa Darragh

In Modeling and Simulation

1. J. Williams

Citations in the corpus

• Constructing confidence and identities of belonging in mathematics at the transition to secondary school (2013, background): “…on transition should be re-read in [a] more positive light: transition can be viewed as growth of identity, largely due to the challenges and demands that the new institution poses, where the chance to become a new person can be exploited by many learners (Hernandez-Martinez et al., 2011, 119).”
• Measuring students’ transition into university and its association with learning outcomes (2012, background): “[ 2011 ]) we reported that many students who experience the transition as a big change are in general quite happy about this and regard it as a positive part of growing up.”
• Use and exchange value in mathematics education: contemporary CHAT meets Bourdieu’s sociology (2012, background): “Our research suggests that compared to informal assessment through project 112 work, this has a damaging effect on students' engagement with and understanding of 113 mathematics (see Hernandez-Martinez et al., 2011b).”
• Against the odds: resilience in mathematics students in transition (2011, background): “their sense of what a mathematician is might be challenged and their identity is developed due to these challenges) (Jooganah & Williams, 2010; Hernandez-Martinez et al., 2011).”