Mathematical Relationships in Education: Identities and Participation

by Laura Black (Editor), Heather Mendick (Editor), Yvette Solomon (Editor)

This book brings together scholars working in the field of mathematics education to examine the ways in which learners form particular relationships with mathematics in the context of formal schooling. While demand for the mathematically literate citizen increases, many learners continue to reject mathematics and experience it as excluding and exclusive, even when they succeed at it. In exploring this phenomenon, this volume focuses on learners' developing sense of self and their understanding of the part played by mathematics in it. It recognizes the part played by emotional responses, the functioning of classroom communities of practice, and by discourses of mathematics education in this process. It thus blends perspectives from psychoanalysis, socio-cultural theory and discursive approaches in a focus on the classic issues of selection and assessment, pedagogy, curriculum, choice, and teacher development.

252 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 13, 2011

About the author

Laura Black is a retired attorney and award-winning businesswoman turned author and speaker. She co-founded one of the first temporary legal staffing companies and became the CEO after it was acquired by a public company. The business grew to become one of the largest of its kind in the country. Laura sits on various boards and helps later life women embrace their next acts through her speaking and writings. Her essays have appeared in The Baltimore Sun, Next Avenue, Kveller, Hadassah, and others. Her first book, Big Butts, Fat Thighs, and Other Secrets to Success, empowered women to accept and use their vulnerabilities in forming critical business relationships.