Social Identities and Opportunities to Learn: Student Perspectives on Group Work in an Urban Mathematics Classroom

By Indigo Esmonde, Kanjana Brodie, Lesley Dookie, Miwa Aoki Takeuchi. Journal of Urban Mathematics Education, 2009

64 citations recorded by the source corpus.

In this article, the authors investigate group work in a heterogeneous urban high school mathematics classroom. Two questions are explored: How do students describe cooperative group work in their mathematics class? How do students describe the way their socially constructed identities influence the nature of their group interactions in mathematics classrooms? The authors present a case study of the ways in which race, gender, and other social identities might influence the nature of group work in reform-oriented high school mathematics classrooms. The analysis, based on 14 interviews with high school students, focused on students’ perceptions of group work and their theories about when cooperative groups work well and when they do not. Students named interactional style, mathematical understanding, and friendships and relationships as the most influential factors. Using an analytic lens informed, in part, by critical race theory, the authors highlight the racialized and gendered nature of these factors.

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/6ce861a740f043f0fc0b7238297fce4683ea1579

How researchers see this paper

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

1. Michal Tabach
2. Talli Nachlieli
3. Luis A. Leyva
4. Einat Heyd‑Metzuyanim
5. Miwa Aoki Takeuchi

Citations in the corpus

• An Intersectional Analysis of Latin@ College Women's Counter-stories in Mathematics (2016, background): “…analysis of Lauren’s and Tracey’s counter-stories details the complexity of how they made meaning of their experiences as mathematics students and negotiated their identities as Latin@ women with mathematics success and pursuits of STEM higher education (Esmonde et al., 2009; Martin, 2009).”
• Unpacking the Male Superiority Myth and Masculinization of Mathematics at the Intersections: A Review of Research on Gender in Mathematics Education (2017, background): “…studies focused on how students made meaning of their experiences in navigating mathematics spaces (e.g., classrooms, problem-solving workshops, cooperative group work) at different intersections (Esmonde et al., 2009; Lim, 2008c; Oppland-Cordell, 2013; Oppland-Cordell & Martin, 2015).”
• Opportunities for learning given to prospective mathematics teachers: between ritual and explorative instruction (2015, background): “Others have looked at opportunities to learn more broadly, in terms of what sort of engagement and social positioning is offered by certain classroom practices and how those afford or constrain opportunities to learn in school mathematics (Esmonde et al. 2009; Gresalfi 2009; Nasir and Hand 2008).”
• Friendships and Group Work in Linguistically Diverse Mathematics Classrooms: Opportunities to Learn for English Language Learners (2016, result): “This finding supports the idea that students’ friendship formation and group member preferences can be influenced by implicit power dynamics shaped through students’ social identities (e.g., race, and gender; Esmonde et al., 2009).”