ABSTRACT
There is a movement underway in the mathematics education research community that seeks to better understand students’ mathematics schooling experiences by examining these experiences through sociocultural and historical perspectives (Atweh, Forgasz, & Nebres, 2001; Boaler, 2000; Martin, 2000, 2007; Nasir & Cobb, 2007; Secada, Fennema, & Adajian, 1995; Yackel & Cobb, 1996). A guiding tenet of this movement is the acknowledgement that the learning and teaching of mathematics is not “culture-free”; historical, political, and cultural forces determine that students at specific intersections of societal communities (racial, ethnic, economic, linguistic, geographical) experience mathematics differently than students positioned at other intersections, and these differential experiences contribute to differences in performance on measures of mathematics achievement and competence. A thread of this work focuses on examining teachers’ mathematics instructional practices from sociocultural perspectives (Franke, Kazemi, & Battey, 2007) and seeks to conceptualize and study mathematics learning environments that are equitable and responsive to the needs and experiences of all learners, but particularly to U.S. mathematics learners from historically marginalized groups, namely African American and Latino students.
