Resumo

GWESHE, Lovejoy Comfort. Mathematics club learners' mathematical identities: Narratives of learners and their class teacher. Journal of Education [online]. 2024, n.97, pp.196-220. ISSN 2520-9868.  https://doi.org/10.17159/2520-9868/i97a10.

Research into mathematics clubs has shown that learners enjoy mathematics in the clubs more than in their regular classrooms, while research on mathematical identities has shown a relationship between learners' mathematical identities and classroom practices. Bringing these two ideas together, I investigated learners' mathematical identities in a mathematics club and their regular mathematics classrooms. I used a mixed-methods design to explore the mathematical identities of learners who participated in an after-school mathematics club. The learners responded to a mathematical identity questionnaire before they started in an after-school mathematics club and after the club ended. Some learners were purposively selected to respond to two semi-structured interviews, one before and one after participating in the club activities. A teacher who was teaching the interviewed learners responded to a semi-structured interview about their mathematical identities in class after they had participated in the club activities. Two paired samples t-test analyses of the questionnaire responses show a statistically significant difference between the learners' mathematical identity scores before and after participating in the club activities. Interview findings show that the learners' mathematical identities were supported through participating in the mathematics club, which encouraged mutual engagement, meaning-making, and a sense of belonging. The teacher observed changes in the learners' participation in the class, suggesting that participation in a mathematics club that supports strong mathematical identities can influence participation in the mathematics classroom.

Palavras-chave : mathematical identities; mathematics club; confidence; persistence; beliefs; sense of belonging.

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