Research

I am a member of the Diversity in Mathematics Education Center (an NSF-CLT), which consists of a group of scholars committed to studying, teaching, and theorizing about issues of race, power, culture and injustice in mathematics education. I have participated in the dissemination of the center's findings through the design of graduate coursework and seminars, teacher professional development activities, and a handbook chapter for the Second Handbook of Research on Mathematics Teaching and Learning.

Broadly speaking, my research contributes to the field's understanding of different interpretations of equity among reform-oriented mathematics classrooms, and the relation between opportunities for mathematics learning and the construction of student engagement and opposition.

The Construction of Opposition in a Low-Track Mathematics Classroom

This year-long research study conducted through the NSF-funded DiME-CLT investigated the development of opportunities to learn mathematics in low- and high-track middle school mathematics classrooms with diverse populations of students. Opportunities for learning (and resisting) mathematics were analyzed with respect to patterns in task structure, the nature of the mathematical activity, the framing and positioning of student participation in this activity, and multiple dimensions of student competence in and out of the classroom. This study found that classroom opposition is fostered by weak opportunities for meaningful mathematical engagement and the transformation of a participation structure that polarizes student activity into an oppositional one.

On the Court and In the Classroom: Mathematical Identities of Basketball Players

This year-long project funded by the Spencer Foundation and conducted with Dr. Na'ilah Nasir at Stanford University investigated the participation practices and identity development of African American high school basketball players in the contexts of basketball and mathematics class. This study found that the practice of basketball supported deep engagement as players had greater access to an understanding of the domain, were assigned and took up a unique role that was integral to the practice, and had opportunities to express themselves and feel competent. The high school mathematics classroom differentially afforded these opportunities with one student taking them up, and the other being unable to, and thus being less engaged.

Construction of Mathematical Identities in Middle School

This year-long study funded by the Spencer Foundation and conducted with Dr. Melissa Gresalfi and Dr. James Greeno at Stanford University examined the nature and development of mathematical identities in relation to both subject-matter content learning and social participation in middle school classrooms. The findings of this study were published in a doctoral thesis by Dr. Melissa Gresalfi.

Stanford University Mathematics Teaching and Learning Study

This five-year study funded by NSF and led by Dr. Jo Boaler at Stanford University examined traditional versus reform mathematics instruction. Publications from the study report on the success of reform mathematics instruction in supporting students' authority, ownership, accountability, and achievement around powerful mathematical ideas. A case study of Railside High School illustrates how a multi-dimensional approach to classroom instruction supports a greater range of students' participation in classroom mathematical practices.