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Documenting two emerging sociomathematical norms for examining functions in mathematics teachers’ online asynchronous discussions

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Abstract

This study investigated novice mathematics teachers participating in an online teacher education course focused on covariational reasoning and understanding the behavior of functions. The analysis centered on documenting the emergence of participants’ sociomathematical norms for engaging in online asynchronous discussions. In this paper, we characterized participants’ initial mathematical discourse and documented two emergent sociomathematical norms, namely explaining why and emergent shape discourse. When participants explained why, they used specific quantities or symbolic representations of functions to justify why function graphs have particular visual features. When participants engaged in emergent shape discourse, they coordinated change between covarying quantities to justify why function graphs behave in certain ways. This study provides evidence that online settings can provide context for mathematics teachers engaging in legitimate collaborative mathematical activity and that activity can be enhanced by participation in discourse featuring specific sociomathematical norms. We discuss conjectures regarding the potential of reflective discussion activities paired with the Notice and Wonder Framework to support the emergence of generative sociomathematical norms. We also discuss potential relationships between characteristics of participants’ mathematical discourse and their membership with the core and periphery of a social network.

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Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are not openly available in order to protect the identity of the participants. The data are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Relevant codes are largely presented and discussed in this manuscript; however, additional codes are available upon request.

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Acknowledgements

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant Nos. 1222355 and 2010306. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

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This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant Nos. 1222355 and 2010306.

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  1. California State University San Marcos, 333 S Twin Oaks Valley Rd, San Marcos, CA, 92096, USA

    Anthony Matranga

  2. Drexel University, 3141 Chestnut St, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA

    Jason Silverman

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Anthony Matranga and Jason Silverman contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation and data collection and analysis were performed by both authors. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Anthony Matranga, and both authors commented on and edited previous versions of the manuscript. Both authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Anthony Matranga.

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This study was approved by the second author’s Institutional Review Board and all participants in this study consented to participate.

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The authors would like to thank Valerie Klein and Wesley Shumar of Drexel University for their ongoing collaboration and support of the research described in this manuscript. The authors would also like to thank Pat Thompson for the development of the tasks used in this research.

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Matranga, A., Silverman, J. Documenting two emerging sociomathematical norms for examining functions in mathematics teachers’ online asynchronous discussions. J Math Teacher Educ (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10857-022-09563-2

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