RESEARCH AGENDA:
AN OVERVIEW
National Science Foundation Award No. ESI-0424983
RESEARCH
CEMELA aims to
understand the
interplay of learning
mathematics and the
unique language,
social and political
issues that affect
Latino communities.
CEMELA research and findings will be
relevant not only to Latinos but also to
other groups of linguistically and
culturally diverse students through the
development of theory and practice for
turning language and cultural diversity
into assets for the mathematics
education of all students.
CEMELA’s holistic
approach includes
various parties
interested in the
education of children:
parents, teachers,
school administrators,
and university faculty.
CEMELA conducts research in
four areas: Student learning;
community and parents;
teaching and teacher education;
and policy. Several single-site
and multi-site research studies
are in the planning stages.
CEMELA-WIDE RESEARCH QUESTIONS
• What is the nature of Latino/a learners’ mathematical
understanding and language use in multiple settings?
• What is the nature of teachers’ knowledge and use of
Latino/a students’ linguistic and cultural backgrounds to
create effective mathematics learning environments?
• What is the nature of Latino/a parents’ perceptions of the
teaching and learning of mathematics?
• What is the impact of policy on Latino students’ learning
of mathematics?
SETTINGS FOR THIS RESEARCH
•
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Teacher Study Groups
Courses for Teachers & Lesson Study
Summer Institutes
Parents’ Workshops
K-8 Classrooms
After-School Projects
A CLOSER LOOK AT
• Research with Parents
• The After-School Project
RESEARCH WITH PARENTS
• Research builds on our prior work with parents in Latino
communities towards the development of a model for parental
engagement in mathematics education.
• This model is co-constructed with the parents as researchers.
• Parents’ workshops become an arena to develop a two-way
dialogue (community  school/university) about mathematics.
• Classroom visits provide a setting to engage with parents as
researchers in mathematics education.
POTENTIAL RELATED STUDIES
(e.g., dissertations / post-doc projects)
• Parents’ understanding of a topic in mathematics (e.g.
proportional reasoning or data interpretation)
•
Parents – children interactions around homework
• Parents – children interactions in an after school
project (with parents as co-facilitators of mathematics
activities)
• Case studies to exemplify parents’ understanding of
teaching and learning mathematics
PRELIMINARY FINDINGS / IMPLICATIONS
• We need to work on the development of a revised definition of
family involvement:
– Seeing parents as intellectual resources;
– Breaking down the barriers between teachers and parents:
work on dialogue;
– Coming to think of this as a partnership that gives parents
meaningful roles.
The teachers have a very different view of what parents know, what
they really know. “Oh, this is easy. They should know all this.” But
parents don’t. They’re looking at numbers going, I really don’t know
what they want us to do with it or find the product of these two numbers.
Well, maybe they forgot what product means. Right there they don’t
know what to do. [Candida, mother]
The whole point was for parents to come in and teach math to other
parents so that they wouldn’t feel so uncomfortable, or intimidated by
teachers. Teachers can come in and teach, that’s what they do, but
when you have another parent teaching you, it’s special, you can
absorb a lot more. [Jillian, mother]
•
We need to be aware of the importance of the school climate:
– Schools are not always welcoming places for all parents
– Parents want:
• Opportunities to learn about school culture not just from the
staff but also from other parents who have been through the
situation;
• To be able to create their own support groups and network and
receive support from the school;
• To use the resources present in their communities.
•
When I go the school meetings, in the cafeteria, they are hardly ever
bilingual, especially now that we don’t have the bilingual program anymore.
I attend so that they see that I am interested, but not because I think that I’m
going to come back with something or that I’m going to understand.
[Verónica – mother]
• We need to gain a better understanding of parents’ (particularly
immigrant parents) experiences with the teaching and learning
of mathematics and build on those experiences:
– Parents have knowledge that is often not valued
– The differences in approaches may turn into conflict
between children and parents
My older daughter, the one who is in 5th grade, tells me “mommy, I am
going to explain something to you that you did not learn in your class,”
because we have already had problems about the fact that I know it a
certain way and she knows it in a different way, and I ask her “why?”, “I
don’t know”, she says, “but you explain it differently; I am going to
explain it to you like they explained to me.” I was totally floored,
because how they explain it here it’s easier and over there they go in
depth for everything, and here no, here they only tell you how and how
and that’s it, and I tell her “mija, what I am telling you is that it comes
from the roots, from below,” “ah no mommy, I don’t have to learn the
roots” she says, “if I already know how to do it up here, why do I need to
see it from below.” [Lucinda, mother]
PARENTS WANT TO BE HEARD
• Cuentas pero no cuentas, estás pero no estás,
simbólicamente vas pero … [Esperanza, mother]
[You count but you don’t count, you are there but
you are not, you attend simbolically but…]
AFTER-SCHOOL PROJECT
• LENA…. YOUR TURN…