Taking an Asset-Based Approach in the Use of a Culturally Located Task to Construct Functional Reasoning

Abstract

Background: Algebra has traditionally been seen as a site of inequity and a gatekeeper for marginalized learners within both national and international studies. However, considerable research has shown that taking an asset-based approach in mathematics teaching improves learning for marginalized students, including Māori and Pāsifika learners. Purpose: The purpose of this research was to explore how a culturally located task set with a familiar Pāsifika context and within an algebraic frame was mathematized to support rich understandings. The focus was placed on how Pāsifika and Māori students drew on multimodal forms of communication (gesture, drawings, language, and symbols) to collectively make sense of a culturally located growing pattern task designed to develop functional reasoning. Research Design: The 12 student participants in the study were aged between 11 and 12 years and were of Māori and Pāsifika nations ethnicity, as were their teacher and the two researchers. The lesson reported on in this study was one of eight lessons and was representative of all lessons as the teacher and students drew on a variety of multimodal means of communication to construct functional reasoning. The design drew on both qualitative case study and design research. Data collection tools included interviews, video-recorded classroom observations, field notes, and photographs of work samples. The research design and analysis were informed through use of the Ula model as appropriate to all participants’ Pāsifika ethnicity. Similarly, storying was used, given that it is a traditional form of sharing used by indigenous peoples. Findings: Clearly evident in the results was how use of a culturally located task within a known context and the teacher’s asset-based approach supported students to engage in a challenging algebraic task. Multimodal forms of representation as reasoning and communication tools supported them to access more sophisticated forms of algebraic understandings as they began to generalize recursive, covarying, and correspondence relationships in increasingly sophisticated ways. Use of body language and gesturing was central to their communication, as was use of their first language and natural language. Conclusions/Recommendations: To change the gatekeeping role of algebra, teachers need to take a strength-based perspective and draw on what students bring to school as valued knowledge. For all students to access powerful ways of reasoning algebraically, the key role of many multimodal forms of communication needs to be recognized and affirmed.