This study investigates the ways in which parents' and teachers' experiences and representations mediate their child's mathematics learning as they make the transition between home and school to either a multiethnic or mainly white school. In particular, it examines if the forms of mediation they adopt can shed light on the academic success of the child in school mathematics. The focus on mathematics learning has been chosen for the study because of its relative neglect, until recent times, to be seen as a subject influenced by cultural representations. Furthermore, there are significant implications in the relative neglect of understanding the achievement of ethnic minority pupils in mathematics. The research was framed by Vygotskian sociocultural theory and Wenger's (1998) communities of practice to explore the construction of meaning, identity and representations of practice. The amalgam of Wenger's communities of practice with sociocultural theory provided three key theoretical facets: (i) multiple levels of understanding in the form of meaning, practice and identity, (ii) the scope to explore the social and cultural worlds of the learner and (iii) understanding the ways that past experiences impact on current practice. Three different forms of qualitative data collection were used within the context of an ethnographic approach: (i) investigations in the form of classroom observations, (ii) in-depth semi-structured interviews and (iii) a child identity task. Twenty-two parents, eight teachers and fifty-eight children took part in the interviews, which form the main part ofthe data analysis. Out ofthese fifty-eight children, twenty-seven undertook the child identity task. The research took place in three schools with different ethnic make-up: a multicultural school, a mainly white school and a predominantly South Asian school. Two year groups were chosen, year 2 (ages 6/7 years) and year 6 (10/11 years), balancing high and low achievers. This study has provided data, which suggests that the way parents and teachers mediate the child's learning involves more than representations of mathematics. In making meaning of the mathematical, they draw on wider representations of the educational world, which include aspects like child development, notions of achievement, past experiences and the child's projected futures. This complex picture emerged from studying the highly interwoven aspects ofthe construction of meaning, identity and representations of practice. Representations of learning can be borrowed from both communities, providing the ethnic minority pupil with the potential to create hybrid representations of learning as they make the transition between home and school, which may be attributed a cultural status within the home. Each social actor has the potential to borrow from the home or school community to a greater or lesser degree. lfthe gap between the shared representations of the home and school are large, then this increases the likelihood of difficulties for the child in transition. However, the data suggests that even if the cultural representations of the home are very different from the school, the identification of high achievement and the engagement in mathematical activity at home can still provide success in learning. From the school community perspective, classrooms were represented by the teacher informants as 'cultureless' in both the multi ethnic and mainly white school. For example, in the multicultural school the teachers felt that there were so many ethnicities that differences were not visible. In the mainly white school, there were so few ethnic minority children that teachers also struggled to identify issues of culture. In the predominantly South Asian school, issues surrounding culture were brought to the forefront of the teacher discourse. However, in many ethnic minority homes, parents described how culture was influential in mediating representations ofleaming. This has implications in the educational arena with respect to the teachers' understanding of the transitional process that ethnic minority children undergo and the levels of visibility that culture and ethnicity is given in the school community.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-07-27T13:54:27Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 VIVIANE MENDONCA GOMIDES ROSA.pdf: 684026 bytes, checksum: 2710fa051797ee2cbfc80549b4c98e85 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009-09-16 / The mathematics has if outstanding as the discipline that the students consider difficult to learn, they refer not to like, they present low acting in the learning. Beyond of those, several they are the factors that interfere in learning. To present research it privileged the form of the organization of the teaching of an algebra content as factor to improve the students' learning, starting from the following subjects: That way can be to organize the algebra teaching for the students to reach better learning? Would the developmental teaching be a possibility to help to improve the learning of equation of the second degree completes? What contradictions would mark the materialization of that type of organization of the teaching? Being based mainly in the theories of Vygotsky, Davydov and Leontiev, they were also considered ideas of theoretical their followers. The objectives of the research were: - to analyze the practical application of the organization of the teaching of a content of the algebra, according to the theory of the developmental teaching, for the students to reach the learning; - to analyze the results of the students' learning with that type of teaching organization; - to identify the contradictions that show in the materialization of that type of teaching organization. The qualitative research, that it consisted of a didactic-formative experiment in agreement with the presuppositions of Davydov (1988). Data were collected through observations, semi-structured interviews and instruments of evaluation of the learning. The subjects of the research were the mathematics teacher and the 19 students of a 9th year-old group, of a public school. The analysis of the data showed that most of the students demonstrated better learning of the content, however some didn't obtain her. In the researched context, important contradictions were revealed that you/they interfered in the use in that way of teaching organization: - own sociocultural factors linked the subjects affect the institutional context of the learning; - the place of the learning activity in the students' life; - the logical and historical analysis of the content. The main contribution of this research consisted of showing that it is possible, for the developmental teaching, that the students learn in a more effective way a content of the algebra, particularly of the equation of the second degree it completes, but the teacher be assist to the contradictions that involve his/her accomplishment. It is believed that their results are useful also to all that worry about the theme of the mathematics didacticism. / A matemática tem se destacado como a disciplina que os alunos consideram difícil de aprender, referem não gostar, apresentam baixo desempenho na aprendizagem. Além desses, diversos são os fatores que interferem na sua aprendizagem. A presente pesquisa privilegiou a forma da organização do ensino de um conteúdo de álgebra como fator para melhorar a aprendizagem dos alunos, a partir das seguintes questões: De que modo pode ser organizar o ensino de álgebra para que os alunos alcancem melhor aprendizagem? O ensino desenvolvimental seria uma possibilidade para ajudar a melhorar a aprendizagem de equação do segundo grau completa? Que contradições marcariam a concretização desse tipo de organização do ensino? Fundamentando-se principalmente nas teorias de Vygotsky, Leontiev e Davydov, consideraram-se também idéias de teóricos seus seguidores. Os objetivos da pesquisa foram: - analisar a aplicação prática da organização do ensino de um conteúdo da álgebra, segundo a teoria do ensino desenvolvimental, para que os alunos alcancem à aprendizagem; - analisar os resultados de aprendizagem dos alunos com esse tipo de organização do ensino; - identificar as contradições que se manifestam na concretização desse tipo de organização do ensino. Realizou-se uma pesquisa qualitativa que consistiu num experimento didático-formativo de acordo com os pressupostos de Davydov (1988). Foram coletados dados por meio de observações, entrevistas semi-estruturadas, instrumentos de avaliação da aprendizagem. Os sujeitos da pesquisa foram a professora de matemática e os 19 alunos de uma turma de 9º ano, de uma escola pública. A análise dos dados mostrou que a maioria dos alunos demonstrou melhor aprendizagem do conteúdo, no entanto alguns não a obtiveram. No contexto pesquisado, revelaram-se contradições importantes que interferiram no uso dessa forma de organização do ensino: - fatores socioculturais próprios ligados às sujeitos afetam o contexto institucional da aprendizagem; - o lugar da atividade de aprendizagem na vida dos alunos; - a análise lógica e histórica do conteúdo. A principal contribuição desta pesquisa consistiu em mostrar que é possível, pelo ensino desenvolvimental, que os alunos aprendam de modo mais efetivo um conteúdo da álgebra, particularmente da equação do segundo grau completa, mas o professor deve estar atendo às contradições que envolvem sua realização. Acredita-se que seus resultados são úteis também a todos que se preocupam com o tema da didática de matemática.