Re-conceptualizing the development of agency in the school mathematics classroom

Bibliographic Data

ID4742337
AuthorsRaymond Brown (Griffith University), Raymond Albert Joseph Brown (0000-0003-2158-9056, Griffith University, corresponding author)
Year2020
Volume59
Issue2
Pages139-149
Publication date2020-04-02
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueTheory Into Practice (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0040-5841 • E-ISSN: 1527-2532
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/00405841.2019.1702394
OpenAlexW2996004640
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited9

A question that confronts teachers of mathematics is how best to establish in their classrooms a space where students can participate more fully in the curriculum. This article explores the development of agency in the school mathematics classroom. Using data from a variety of classroom contexts, this article employs sociocultural constructs of theorists such as Lev Vygotsky and James Wertsch to examine teacher and student activity during classroom interactions. A specific focus of this examination is the development of student agency. In particular, I explore practices that recognize the tension between the agency of the people teaching and learning the mathematics and the agency of the discipline that accredits and conventionalizes ways of knowing and doing the mathematics. The article concludes that it is in the teacher-student negotiation of coming to know and do mathematics that the development of student agency can be actualized

Agency (philosophy · Connected Mathematics · Curriculum · Math wars · Mathematics education · Negotiation · Pedagogy · Social science · Sociocultural evolution · Sociology · Innovative Education and Learning Practices · Mathematics Education and Teaching Techniques · Psychology · Teacher Education and Leadership Studies