JOB TALK: Elementary Mathematics Education

The Authority of Ideas: Understanding Influence During Collaborative Problem Solving

Increasing diversity in U.S. classrooms requires theoretical frameworks to better examine complex, inclusive learning environments. Particularly urgent is the need to understand student-led group work, where consensus-building on reasonable approaches to solving problems may often emerge from the negotiation of power rather than simply the exchange of ideas. This talk presents a novel framework to explain why some students' ideas are taken up and not others, based on a contributor's position of authority, access to the conversational floor, and bodily orientation, as well as the perceived merit of contributions. The utility of the framework is illustrated by explaining how two students, situated in a racially and linguistically diverse fifth grade classroom, constructed an erroneous solution to an open-ended mathematics problem. The talk closes by contextualizing this analysis in a broader body of work focused on examining how ideas and identities are positioned over time in ways that privilege or marginalize particular students’ forms of engagement, and how these interactional dynamics relate to broader social categories such as gender, race, and language.

 

Jennifer Langer-Osuna is an assistant professor in the Department of Teaching and Learning at the University of Miami and received her doctorate in Development in Mathematics and Science at the University of California, Berkeley. Her research focuses on the nature of student identity and engagement during collaborative activity, and the ways in which authority and influence are constructed through student interactions. Her current project, funded by the NAEd/Spencer Post-doctoral Fellowship, applies these tools to understand how elementary school students from diverse backgrounds negotiate mathematical ideas and positions of authority during collaborative work.