The Role of Value Alignment in Levels of Engagement of Mathematics Learning

Abstract

Low levels of student engagement in mathematics education has been a growing concern in the Australian context and internationally. In this chapter, we will explore how value alignment strategies (Scaffolding, Balancing, Intervention and Refuge) could be used to rework conflict, resentment and disengagement of students in the mathematics classroom. When students are encouraged to discuss their individual thoughts and opinions, ideas and approaches, students' values and identities become more apparent. We also begin to explore the notion of identity as an extension to the completed work on value alignment strategies. We propose a possibility that value alignment strategies could be the catalyst in many more students proclaiming that 'mathematics is my most valuable subject!' Keywords Values • Value alignment strategies • Student engagement • Student disengagement • Mathematical identity

An Intersection of Mathematics Educational Values and Cultural Values: Pāsifika Students’ Understanding and Explanation of Their Mathematics Educational Values

“…For example, if students value perseverance, this then might support them to continue to work to solve challenging mathematical problems within the classroom. Kalogeropoulos and Clarkson (2019) also note that teachers within the mathematics classroom make decisions based on their own values. This can potentially pose difficulties, for example, if a teacher is making pedagogical decisions on a valuing basis that conflict with the students' values.…”

Values and Valuing in Mathematics Education

“…Rather than trying to deal with all of these questions, this chapter focuses on strategies that four teachers have used to achieve value alignment with their students during critical incidents in mathematics learning. The value alignment strategies are part of the findings of the first author's recent PhD study conducted in Melbourne, Australia (Kalogeropoulos 2016). Values alignment strategies were observed to be used by the teachers to form a compromise, a negotiation or a change in mathematics learning for student engagement or re-engagement.…”

“…There are a number of ways in which alignment of values between teacher and students can be achieved in the mathematics classroom. Kalogeropoulos (2016) used classroom observations particularly of critical incidents in the flow of teaching in lessons, student and teacher questionnaires, and interviews to collect data from four teachers and their 10-11 year old students in the same school in Melbourne, Australia. The data obtained was analysed using a grounded theory approach.…”

Exploring Issues About Values in Mathematics Education

“…The study presented by Kalogeropoulos, Russo, and Clarkson investigated, in an intervention context, whether the four-value alignment strategies, namely, scaffolding, balancing, intervention, and refuge, as identified in an earlier work by Kalogeropoulos and Bishop (2017), can comprehensively account for educators' value alignment strategies. Using the data collected from semi-structured interviews with two teacher-leaders involved in an intervention program in Australia, which were designed mainly for catering to students who were in the 20th to 40th percentile in terms of their mathematics performance, the paper argued that a fifth strategy, termed the Beacon strategy, is needed to better describe the full range of value alignment strategies employed by educators in the intervention program.…”