ABSTRACT
Inquiry-based practices hold tremendous promise for transforming classrooms for engaging students in challenging science and mathematics content. While inquiry practices increase the number of interactions between students and teachers compared with traditional instruction, it cannot be assumed that the interactions are actually more equitable for historically marginalized students. In this chapter, we discuss how moment-to-moment teacher responsiveness to the social interactions of the inquiry classroom can foster or inhibit the creation of an equitable space—where students’ social identities are affirmed and they are learning substantive content. Specifically, we unpack ways in which uptake of student ideas and building competence can be used to build more equitable inquiry instruction in mathematics classrooms for Black children specifically. Within these classroom moments students are constantly being positioned with respect to peers, subject matter, and broader discourses. The judgment of whether inquiry instruction is inequitable or equitable will play out in whether Black students are positioned as competent with respect to these three factors.
