The purpose of this research is to apply a sociocultural lens to examine students’ perceptions of usefulness in mathematics. It is important to explore perceptions of usefulness, as teachers are increasingly being encouraged to help their students view mathematics as useful. However, we know little about how students – and in particular, students in underserved communities – think about what it means for mathematics to be useful. This study addressed four main goals: (a) illuminate students’ conceptions of usefulness in mathematics, (b) identify key features of students’ engagement with mathematics in meaningful everyday activities, (c) highlight the ways in which students’ conceptions of usefulness and engagement with mathematics in everyday activities can inform the design of problem-solving tasks that students will view as useful, and (d) explore the relationship between students’ perceptions of usefulness and their engagement in mathematical problem solving. Participants in this study were 108 sixth-and seventh-grade students, 75% of whom identify as Latin@, from a working class suburb of a large Midwestern city. Questionnaires were administered and interviews were conducted to explore students’ goals, values, and conceptions of usefulness. Additionally, ethnographic observations and semi-structured interviews were used to examine similarities and differences between students’ engagement with mathematics in the classroom and in everyday activities involving mathematics. Finally, the data collected were used to design two problem-solving tasks. Students’ engagement on these tasks was then compared to their engagement with “typical” mathematics curriculum tasks. Mixed methods were employed for analyses, and triangulation across methods and data sources was used whenever possible. Findings highlight that the students thought about usefulness not only in terms of how mathematics content can be applied to their future jobs/careers, everyday life, and specific money-related activities, but also in terms of how particular methods or strategies for learning mathematics can be useful (e.g. working collaboratively). Additionally, findings illustrate that the students had strong interdependent values and emphasized the importance of working with others and helping their families when participating in everyday activities involving mathematics. Design principles for developing problem-solving tasks that students view as useful are proposed, and affordances and constraints of those principles are considered. This study contributes to our understanding of the ways students conceive of usefulness, as well as the wide range of influences on middle school students’ conceptions and perceptions of the usefulness of mathematics.

Last modified

• 02/26/2018

Creator

• Tracy Elyse Dobie

DOI

• https://doi.org/10.21985/N2S68R

Subject

• Learning Sciences

Keyword

• Equity
• Student engagement
• Sociocultural context
• Mathematics education
• Utility value

Date created

• 2016-01-01

Resource type

• Dissertation

Rights statement

• In Copyright