Understanding undergraduate disengagement from mathematics: Addressing alienation

Abstract

This paper explores the phenomenon of student disengagement from university mathematics through the lens of Marx's concept of alienation. Distinguishing between alienation as an objective relationship and the subjective state of disaffection, it argues that dominant modes of teaching in the English school system produce alienated relationships with mathematics, including among successful students, which university teaching does not necessarily reverse. Drawing on interviews with 15 second-year mathematics single major students from 4 universities, in which they explain their experiences of university mathematics, we argue that 'undoing' alienation and enhancing engagement at university rests on the development of new relationships with mathematics through greater support for students' developing confidence in independent mathematical judgement.

Taking Universal Design Back to Its Roots: Perspectives on Accessibility and Identity in Undergraduate Mathematics

“…Earlier research on undergraduate mathematics has underlined the importance of pedagogical practices to students' identity development [47,48]. For example, even though not directly addressing disabled students, Solomon [47] calls for accessible pedagogy that would encourage 'the exploration, negotiation and ownership of knowledge, and the development of a corresponding identity of participation' (p. 93).…”

“…For example, even though not directly addressing disabled students, Solomon [47] calls for accessible pedagogy that would encourage 'the exploration, negotiation and ownership of knowledge, and the development of a corresponding identity of participation' (p. 93). Elsewhere, mathematical teaching practices based on rote learning have been linked to alienation and disengagement [48], highlighting the impact of the learning environments on students' sense of themselves as learners. Would Universal Design offer a way to challenge the 'dominant discourses' [47] (p. 93) of university mathematics education, and provide a chance to build identities based on inclusion?…”

“This is what you need to be learning”: an analysis of messages received by first-year mathematics students during their transition to university

“…Similarly, Solomon and Croft (2016) use the concept of alienation to explore the reasons why students disengage from university mathematics. The authors focus on the relationships with mathematics that students bring with them from school and on the changes that these relationships undergo at university.…”

“…This gap refers to the differences in the nature of the mathematics taught at school and that taught at university (Daskalogianni and Simpson 2002;Luk 2005;Solomon and Croft 2016); the differences in the ways that students must think, work and communicate mathematics (Tall 1991;Hoffkamp et al 2013;Breen and O'Shea 2015); and the institutional differences between secondary and tertiary education (Artigue 2004). De Guzmán et al (1998 classified the difficulties that students face during the transitional phase in three distinct categories: epistemological/cognitive, sociological/cultural, and didactical.…”

Theory in and for mathematics education: in pursuit of a critical agenda

“…There still remains in sociocultural theory a space for re-envisioning theories in critical mathematics education: for some critics drawing on psychoanalytic theory this could be regarded as Bimpossible^in practice. It seems however that the study of alienation has some way to go within MECT, and several such papers arising from MECT work have appeared in ESM and also in a special issue on Alienation in mathematics in the International Journal of Educational Research (e.g., De Freitas & Sinclair, 2015;Radford, 2016;Solomon & Croft, 2016).…”