(Page 1 of 7) - Drawing on Diverse Social and Cultural Resources in Technology-Mediated Classrooms authored by Ares, Nancy. and Stroup, Walter.

Drawing on Diverse Social, Cultural, and Academic Resources in Technology-Mediated

Classrooms

Nancy Ares, University of Rochester, Nancy.## email not listed ##

Walter M. Stroup, The University of Texas at Austin, ## email not listed ##

Numerous classroom technologies are being designed to support construction of mathematics

and science knowledge (cf., Kaput & Hegedus, 2002; Linn & Hsi, 2000; Soloway et al., 2001;
Wilensky & Stroup, 1999), but largely without regard to the social and cultural resources
traditionally under-served students bring to classrooms. Carol Lee (2003) notes, “the tremendous
funding being invested in the development of such computer-based tools in education may be
simply reinforcing current inequities in opportunities to learn, unintentionally widening the
achievement gap” (p. 58). There is little hope of attending to that gap if research and
development efforts ignore issues of culture. However, with few exceptions (Lee, 2003;
Pinkard, 2001), research and design in instructional technologies has not treated underserved
students’ social, cultural, and academic resources as central considerations.

To build understanding of the influence of culture on technology-supported classroom

learning, we turn to a growing body of promising work that treats underserved students’ cultural
backgrounds and practices as important resources for learning (cf., C. Lee, 2001; Greenberg &
Moll, 1990; Gonzalez et al., 1995). Okhee Lee (2003) argues that equity is unattainable if
students are not given access to powerful discourses, but that appropriation of discourse is made
more difficult if school science (and mathematics) is simply imposed on students. Appropriation
is better supported by drawing on students’ social and cultural practices as resources rather than
as barriers to overcome (cf., Civil & Kahn, 2001; Moll & Gonzalez, 1995). For example, Haitian
Creole students’ story-telling and argumentation skills have been shown to support their
engagement in science (Warren et al., 1992) and irony, satire, and metaphor in African American
Vernacular English to scaffold students’ analysis of canonical literary works (C. Lee, 2001).

We examine the unique potential of a next-generation networked classroom technology

(HubNet and Participatory Simulations, Wilensky & Stroup, 1999) to draw on students’ cultural,
social, and academic resources to support learning in mathematics. We attend to both (1) content
and representations of content; and (2) the participation/interaction of students as dual
dimensions of the social space of classrooms. Attending to these dual dimensions highlights “ a
generative, creative tension between the structuring role of math and science and the structuring
role of social activity” (Stroup, Ares, & Hurford, in press). Of particular interest are the
following research questions:
(1) In what unique ways does network-mediated activity scaffold learning for underserved

students?

(2) How is mathematical knowledge and practice enhanced through inclusion of underserved

students’ social and cultural resources in network-mediated learning?

Examining these issues will deepen our understanding of the construction of mathematical
content and practice through social interaction. We hope to identify effective ways to begin to
close the achievement gaps between cultural, social, and economic groups by broadening the
range of tools and knowledge teachers use to allow all students to reach their highest potential.
Network Mediated Learning

HubNet and Participatory Simulations includes a wireless network of graphing calculators,

being developed with funding from the National Science Foundation and Texas Instruments
(Wilensky & Stroup, 1999, 2000). In Participatory Simulations, participants act as individual
agents and observe how the behavior of the system as a whole emerges from their individual
behaviors. The emergent results become the focus of in-class discussion and analysis. In the