%0 Journal Article
%T Mathematics and Numeracy as Social and Spatial Practice
%A Nancy Ares
%A Dawn M. Evans
%J Education Research International
%D 2014
%I Hindawi Publishing Corporation
%R 10.1155/2014/742197
%X This study of networked classroom activity proposes that a resource-rich point of view is powerful in increasing the engagement of marginalized students in mathematics classes. Our work brings attention to the values, beliefs, and power relations that infuse numeracy practices and adds attention to mathematical dimensions of social spaces. Findings show that the multiple modes available to communicate mathematically, to contribute, and the inquiry-oriented discussions invited students to draw on a variety of expressive modes to engage with complex mathematical concepts. Spatial analyses illuminate the relations among reproduction and production of knowledge, as well as the social space that characterized the networked classroom activity. They also reveal the affordance of emergent, transformed social spaces for youth¡¯s use of a variety of social and cultural displays in producing mathematical knowledge. Students extended notions about social space by adding attention to affective features of classroom and school activities. 1. Introduction We hope with this study to contribute to the literature that illuminates the successful participation of marginalized students in secondary mathematics classes. From this perspective, rather than focusing on the barriers, such youth may face, we examine classroom interactions that foster their engagement in powerful mathematics learning. To do so, we present an exploration of mathematics as social practice that is linked to critical geographies¡¯ focus on social space. We use varied terms throughout the paper to refer to youth and communities that have and continue to be subject to societal inequities as a way to trouble the use of language such as urban and at-risk languages that cover deficit assumptions about people and places. Similar stances are evident in related literature reviewed here. For example, Moschkovich [1] juxtaposed three theoretical stances to examine how each would guide the analysis of two Latina students¡¯ construction of understanding and communication about properties of rectangles and about slope. In that article, she illuminated what was learned and what was missed in adopting the theories¡¯ principles, arguing that a sociocultural lens provided ways to understand linguistic and interactional resources the participants were drawing upon that were missed in vocabulary acquisition and social construction of meaning perspectives. We approach this analysis similarly in that it is an exercise in examining what we see when we take a social spatial theoretical position and use its central tenets to
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/edri/2014/742197/