From the Court to the Classroom: Opportunities for Engagement, Learning, and Identity in Basketball and Classroom Mathematics

Abstract

This study explored support for engagement in 2 settings: a high school basketball team and high school mathematics classrooms. Specifically, the study examined 3 aspects of these practices: (a) access to the domain, (b) opportunities to take on integral roles, and (c) opportunities for self-expression in the practice. Drawing on videotape and interview data from 2 African American high school students' participation in basketball and mathematics class, as well as interviews with players'teachers and coaches, this article analyzes how these 3 aspects of practices afforded differential engagement across settings. Findings indicated that the practice of basketball supported deep engagement as players had greater access to an understanding of the domain, were assigned and took up a unique role that was integral to the practice, and had opportunities to express themselves and feel competent. The high school mathematics classroom differentially afforded these opportunities, with 1 student taking them up and the other being unable to, and thus being less engaged. Potential implications of these 3 aspects of the practices for students' practice-linked identities and learning are discussed.Studies of learning in settings outside of school have documented differences in individuals' abilities to solve problems across settings, illustrating that cognition

Accessing resources for identity development by urban students and teachers: foregrounding context

“…Out-of-school experiences tend to make extensive use of authentic tools that shape and facilitate learning whereas in-school priorities often center on proving that one can do the work without texts and other tools. Nasir and Hand's (2004) study of African American high school boys' mathematics learning on the basketball court compared to the classroom confirmed these findings as they describe, in detail, the many additional resources (such as central positioning, increased and timely feedback, and increased activity, agency and accountability) made readily available in the nontraditional setting compared to the traditional one. These comparisons of out-ofschool to in-school learning suggest that the benefits of out-of-school learning may be even more amplified when considering typical challenges faced by urban science education because of the scarcity of resources available in many urban science classrooms which preclude teachers and students alike from accessing important authentic tools (NRC and IM 2004).…”

“…Neither group was centrally positioned in the discourse of the identity they were developing, and because they were simply carrying out someone else's intentions and directions, there were few opportunities for meaningful recognition (by selves or others) for developing competence, understandings and values associated with their respective projected identities. In contrast, the ending activity structure offered both students and youth facilitators much agency with respect to Based, in part, on Nasir and Hand (2004) both process and product and required thoughtful and active engagement. Thus this activity structure afforded opportunities for both groups of learners to be positioned more centrally in their respective discourses, and this central participation, in turn, offered both groups opportunities for personally meaningful recognition of increased competence by self as well as many other groups (including peers and program directors).…”

“…In this review, I intend to extend the conversation beyond consideration of learners' access to agency to articulate additional specific and unique aspects of emergent cultural practices present in each of the two activity structures. Specifically, I propose the following types and dimensions of identity affordances as a lens for comparison of the two activity structures as well as between the two groups of learners: level of activity, level of agency, level of support, distribution of expertise, amount and timing of feedback, importance of feedback, level of learner accountability, positioning and opportunities for meaningful recognition (informed by the work of Nasir and Hand 2004). See Table 1 for further explanations of each identity resource as well as the results of the analyses that allowed these comparisons.…”

Classifying Dissatisfaction: Student Perspectives on Teammate Performance

“…13 A marked difference exists between the classroom, in which subject knowledge alone suffices, and a project environment, in which students must exhibit the "inter-relationships of knowledge, practice, and identity" 3 and be socially recognized. 14 Danielak et al note that "learners' perceptions of which practices constitute knowing and performing in a discipline can link to their identification or what we term disidentification with the discipline". 7 Further research may reveal whether negative behaviors stemming from particular types of motivations ( Figure 2) have an effect on student persistence in engineering.…”

Productive Disciplinary Engagement in Complex STEM Learning Environments

“…Following Nasir & Hand, 14 we find that students need access to integral roles that they can identify with and that are clearly part of the discipline they are learning about.…”