Year: 2017
Type: dissertation
Abstract: This qualitative study describes mathematics majors socially adapting to perform mathematical tasks. An advanced undergraduate geometry class was observed for social and socio-mathematical norms. Three pairs of two students engaged in three task-based, semi-structured interviews: paired, individually, then paired again, solving the Seven Bridges of Königsberg and related tasks. A fourth stimulated-recall interview was performed using episodes from the last paired interview. Interview discourses were coded for structure and function to analyze the mathematical practices performed by each pair as shaped by their social interactions. These codes were then inductively analyzed for themes. Findings include: 1) the emergent norms of building and referencing consensus, levels of student autonomy, and differing forms of argumentation in the classroom, 2) the repeated use of diagrams and conjectures that were developed in the paired settings, and 3) the lack of use of diagrams and conjectures that were developed during individual settings. A model framing transfer as social adaptation is introduced, and implications for research, teaching, and policy are discussed.
Author: Jeffrey J. King
Language: English
Subfield: Education
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2783664846