High school learners' mathematical identities: The case of an after-school mathematics club.

Abstract

Some researchers have tried to understand why some learners engage in and others disengage from mathematics by exploring learners’ mathematical identities. Other researchers have viewed mathematics clubs as contributing to learners’ engagement in mathematics, but learners’ disengagement from mathematics continues to be a concern despite these efforts. Bringing these two important ideas together, I investigated the relationship between learners’ mathematical identities and an after-school mathematics club. A part of this study focuses on the collective role of significant others, who are teachers, peers and family members, in supporting and constraining learners’ mathematical identities. Some researchers view productive disposition as important for learners to successfully learn mathematics. So, another part of the study focuses on learners’ productive dispositions as linked to their mathematical identities. Building on previous definitions, I define mathematical identity, be it participative or narrative, as constituted by personal and social mathematical identities, each of which can be robust-leaning, mixed or fragile-leaning. I define a mathematics club as an informal supportive space where learners engage in problem-solving activities. The study is guided by Wenger’s theory of learning as social practice. Learning is considered as involving four interconnected components: mutual engagement, meaning-making, a sense of belonging and identity construction, and occurring in different communities of practice that people move across. The theory guided learning in the club and it helped me to analyse and explain the club and learners’ identities. I used a largely qualitative design to explore the identities of Grade 10 learners who volunteered to participate in the study. The first group of 133 learners responded to a mathematical identity questionnaire and their responses were used to purposively select four learners for a semi-structured interview about their mathematical identities. The first group of learners did not participate in the mathematics club activities. A second group of fifty learners, at a different school from the first group, participated in the mathematics club activities. The learners responded to a similar mathematical identity questionnaire to learners in the first group, before they started in the club and after the club finished, and to five short questions about their expectations of and experiences in the club. Six out of the fifty learners were purposively selected to participate in two semi-structured interviews, before and after participating in the club activities. A teacher teaching four of the six interviewed learners participated in a semi-structured interview about the learners’ mathematical identities in the class after the learners participated in the club activities. Questionnaire responses were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistical techniques. Interview and written responses were analysed using deductive and inductive coding. The analyses showed that many of the learners’ mathematical identities were fragile-leaning, and the learners had fragile-enhancing relationships with at least two groups of significant others. A few of the learners’ mathematical identities were robust-leaning, and these learners had robust-enhancing relationships with at least two groups of significant others. The learners' relationships with their significant others collectively contributed to their mathematical identities. The club supported the learners' productive dispositions and identities. The learners preferred club discussions and the club’s sociability over being given information in their classes. I recommend that significant others work together to support learners' mathematical identities. Teachers can discourage learners from labelling each other based on their mathematical abilities by, for example, fostering the belief that any learner can learn mathematics, and they can advise parents on how to support their children in mathematics. Clubs and classrooms operate under different constraints, but teachers can try to promote the sharing and explanation of ideas in their classes. The teachers can volunteer to start clubs at their schools as complementary spaces for supporting learners' identities.