PARENTS AS
LEARNERS OF MATHEMATICS:
A
DIFFERENT LOOK AT PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT1
Marta Civil
University of Arizona
civil@math.arizona.edu
Rosi Andrade
University of Arizona
andrade@math.arizona.edu
Cynthia Anhalt
University of Arizona
anhalt@u.arizona.edu
Abstract: This paper explores the nature of parental
involvement in mathematics education and presents a model that involves parents
sharing their beliefs, ideas, and concerns about their children’s mathematics
education. This paper draws on
qualitative data from two research projects on parental involvement in
mathematics education in minority and working-class communities. Our model focuses on engaging parents in
doing mathematics and talking about mathematics education, thereby, increasing
parents’ confidence, understanding and information in these areas. These three aspects are likely to play a
role towards these parents becoming advocates for quality mathematics education
for all children.
This
paper focuses on the nature of parental involvement in mathematics within two research
projects located in minority and working-class communities. In our work we seek more relevant forms of
parental participation and engagement.
By these we mean ways that are respectful of parents and communities,
yet challenging to them in that these mathematical experiences will
authentically promote their roles as informal educators in the home.
We
draw on three bodies of literature that explicitly reject a deficit view of
families and parents that portrays them as somehow lacking, as “the
problem.” One of these bodies is the
literature on parental involvement, in particular that which critically
examines issues of power and perceptions of parents (especially minority and
working-class parents) and that moves away from stereotypes and deficit views
by giving parents a voice in the process (Henry, 1996; Vincent, 1996). Our work reflects an awareness that, as
Weissglass and Becerra (n.d.) write, "often classes or programs for
parents are one-way transmissions of information and materials from school to
the parents. Rarely do parents,
particularly those from groups underrepresented in mathematics, have an
opportunity for their beliefs, ideas, and concerns to be heard. " (p. 2).
As
Peressini (1998) points out, mathematics educators often stress the importance
of involving the parents in the road to reforming school mathematics. However, as he observes "in both the
larger arena of general educational reform and the subset of school mathematics
reform, these calls for parental and community involvement have been at an
abstract level and have not been closely examined" (p. 557).
A second
body of literature is that of research on adult education, especially that
grounded on critical pedagogy (Benn, 1997; Frankenstein & Powell, 1994;
Harris, 1991; Knijnik, 1996). These
researchers stress the importance of there being different forms of
mathematics, while pushing us to reflect on what counts as mathematical
knowledge, and suggesting pedagogical approaches that can be very powerful in
working with adults that have often been marginalized. Directly related to
these pedagogical approaches is the third body of literature that informs our
work, that based on a socio-cultural approach to education (Forman, 1996; Moll,
1992; Rogoff, 1994; van Oers, 1996). This approach takes for granted the
dynamic nature of social and cultural experiences, while rejecting those
commonly-held notions about minority and working-class families (e.g.,
"they are not interested in education"; "these parents cannot
help their children"). More
specifically, while appreciating the difference in experiences that children
and their families may share, we believe that these same differences when
viewed as positive can propel and enrich educational practice and learning
experiences in more productive and meaningful ways.
Our modes
of inquiry are qualitatively based involving the use of observations and field
notes, researchers’ journals, interviews, evaluation protocols, and
collaborative writing exercises with participating parents. Many of the mathematics sessions with the
parents are being videotaped, thus allowing us to examine their participation
in mathematical discussions, their questions, and the overall nature of the
discourse.
We are
interested in understanding the essence of parents' experiences in the education
of their children, with the school and teachers, and in their experience of
participating as adult learners of mathematics. To do so, we ascribe to a phenomenological methodology (Van
Manen, 1990) which relies heavily on participants' contributions to the
experience, then strives to triangulate the data through multiple experiences
and sources of data. The lived
experience of each parent is considered significant. Developing an appreciation of this lived experience constitutes
the basis of our research.
In our proposed model for parental involvement in
mathematics, we challenge the common approach that looks at superficial aspects
such as number of parents at a given event, and focus instead on the process of
involvement itself that centers on parents engaging in doing and talking about
mathematics. As one mother writes:
Engaging with our children in the
mathematics, allows us to see them differently, that it is not sufficient to
attend to all their other needs, but that it is important that we as parents
have these types of discussions. We
also realize that though we may not have a certificate in hand, we are also
teachers. [Collaborative writing]
Our model focuses on three aspects that have become salient
in our analysis of data in both projects: a) participants’ growing confidence
as learners of mathematics; b) participants becoming better informed about
mathematics education; c) participants’ growing understanding of
mathematics. These three aspects go
hand in hand as the following brief vignettes show.
The Case of Alicia
Alicia has never missed a single session in the program and
has commented on how the homework she gets has become a family affair as she
engages all her family members in it.
Although hesitant to present her mathematical thinking to the group of
parents in the sessions, towards the end of the academic year, she promptly
volunteered to assist with a demonstration of the Calculator Based Ranger (CBR)
in a fifth grade classroom. Alicia then
talked to her daughter’s teacher (her daughter is in another fifth grade
classroom at that same school) and asked her to allow her daughter to attend
these special sessions on the CBR.
Alicia was disappointed by the kind of mathematical experiences her
daughter was receiving and decided to act on it, even if only through these
special sessions. The teacher agreed
and sent in an additional ten students to this other classroom so that they
could also benefit from the experiences with the graphing calculator and the
CBR. Alicia came in ready to help and
so did three other mothers from the project and another who volunteers at the
school. Alicia’s confidence as a
mathematics learner and her interest and enjoyment in the subject seem to be
helping her become more assertive in advocating for her daughter’s mathematics
education. She has since been hired as
a parent assistant for that school.
The Case of Emilia
Emilia, a mother participating in the other project, writes
about her growing awareness with respect to the impact of mathematics on future
life choices for her children:
As
the mother that I am of family of four children, on a personal level I worry
about their academic development – mathematics is one of the most difficult
subjects for them and if one cannot help them at home they are even more
difficult.
This paragraph is taken from a newsletter that other women
in the group have produced to share their thoughts on mathematics in the home
and the school. Emilia’s advocacy role
as an “informal” educator is confirmed in the following excerpt written by her
15 year-old son in that same newsletter:
Now
that she [Emilia] is attending the [mathematical workshops], she can teach me
other ways of learning mathematics…. She shares it with the entire family and
we all get involved in a mathematics reunion that is fun. We are all teachers and students at the same
time, there is no difference.
Conclusion
In their mathematical autobiographies and through informal
initial interviews, many parents shared their fears and apprehension towards
learning mathematics. As we listen to
parents reflecting on their past and current experiences, we are gaining a
better understanding of factors that affect their confidence, which in turn
informs our further work with them. As
parents visit mathematics classrooms, they are becoming more aware of how and
what mathematics is being taught. This
added to their experience as learners and as teachers when they share the
activities at home with their families, is resulting in some parents taking an
active role in wanting to change their children’s experiences with mathematics
in school. In some cases we are
starting to see an awareness of their potential roles as advocates for all
children:
I
also want to know not so much for this one particular child I have here [in the
middle school], I really want to know if the teacher is focusing and figuring
out which students…are staying behind…the students who are quiet and go with
the flow, and they might say that they know, but they don’t. [Debriefing after classroom observation]
Note
1. The research reported here is supported by the
Educational Research and Development Centers Program, PR/Award Number
R306A60001, as administered by the OERI (U.S. Department of Education) and by
the National Science Foundation (NSF) under grant – ESI-99-01275. The views expressed here are those of the
authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of OERI or NSF.
References
Benn, R. (1997). Adults Count Too: Mathematics for
Empowerment. Leicester, England: NIACE.
Civil, M.
(1999, July). Parents as learners of
mathematics. Paper presented at
Adults Learning Mathematics – A Research Forum [ALM-6], Sheffield, UK.
Forman, E.
A., (1996). Learning mathematics as
participation in classroom practice: Implications of sociocultural theory for
educational reform. In L. Steffe and P.
Nesher (Eds.), Theories of mathematical
learning (pp. 115-130). Mahwah, NJ:
Lawrence Erlbaum.
Frankenstein, M. &
Powell, A. (1994). Toward liberatory mathematics: Paulo Freire's epistemology
and ethnomathematics. In P. L McLaren & C. Lankshear (Eds.), Politics of liberation: Paths from Freire (pp.
74-99). New York, NY: Routledge.
Harris, M.
(1991). Schools, Mathematics and Work.
Bristol, PA: Falmer Press
Henry, M.
(1996). Parent-school collaboration: Feminist organizational structures and
school leadership. Albany, NY: SUNY.
Knijnik,
G. (1996). Exclusão e resistência: Educaçáo matemática e legitimidade cultural. Porto Alegre, Brasil: Artes Médicas.
Peressini,
D. D. (1998). The portrayal of parents
in the school mathematics reform literature: Locating the context for parental
involvement. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 29, 555-582.
Rogoff, B.
(1994). Developing understanding of the
idea of communities of learners. Mind, Culture and Activity, 1, 209-229.
Moll, L.
C. (1992). Bilingual classroom studies and community analysis. Educational Researcher, 21(2), 20-24.
Van Manen,
M. (1990). Researching lived experience: Human science for an action sensitive
pedagogy. London, Ontario: The
University of Western Ontario.
Vincent,
C. (1996). Parents and teachers: Power
and participation. Bristol, PA: Falmer Press.
van Oers,
B. (1996). Learning mathematics as a meaningful activity. In L. Steffe and P. Nesher (Eds.), Theories of mathematical learning (pp.
91-113). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Weissglass,
J. & Becerra, A. (n.d.). Building bridges: Family mathematics
education and support. Santa
Barbara, CA: Center for Educational Change in Mathematics and Science,
University of California.