Supporting Diverse Approaches to Meaningful Mathematics: From Obstacles to Opportunities

Abstract

In this chapter, we explore how classroom cultures might be established that are more congruent with the diverse needs of all the learners who compose them and identify features that support the development of conceptual understanding of mathematics in learners currently marginalized by normative classroom expectations. We focus in particular on two interlinked issues, time and tools. First, we address how time-related pressures particularly affect students with learning differences, difficulties, or disabilities and suggest ways of thinking about the constructs of efficiency and economy that respect student difference. We then address these constructs in relation to tool use, looking at some ways by which tools (in a broad sense, including manipulatives, calculation and communication devices, memory aids, and representational strategies) may be particularly helpful for students who have not been able to access mathematics teaching in the same ways, or as successfully, as their more typically developing peers.