Affective Assessment and Mathematics Classroom Engagement: A Case Study

This paper reports a case study of one student's pattern of engagement in an eighth-grade algebra class. The student, Bryan, was a participant in a yearlong study of mathematical communication in middle school classrooms. His case is interesting both because of the striking differences between...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inEducational studies in mathematics Vol. 47; no. 1; pp. 75 - 100
Main Authors Williams, Steven R., Kathy M. C. Ivey
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Kluwer Academic Publishers 01.01.2001
Subjects
Academic motivation
Affective Behavior
Algebra
Case Studies
Causality
Final causes
Grade 8
Learning theory
Mathematics
Mathematics Education
Motivation
Motivation research
Secondary Education
Self efficacy
Student Attitudes
Student Motivation
Time on Task
Volition
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Summary:This paper reports a case study of one student's pattern of engagement in an eighth-grade algebra class. The student, Bryan, was a participant in a yearlong study of mathematical communication in middle school classrooms. His case is interesting both because of the striking differences between his being engaged and disengaged in classroom work, and because of the reasons he gives for his pattern of engagement. Several current theories of engagement and motivation are discussed as we attempt to gain insight into his actions and explanations. All are successful in describing parts of Bryan's behavior. However, we argue both empirically and theoretically that none serve to characterize what we feel is the core of Bryan's decision about engagement: his affective assessment of mathematics. We provide an analysis based on Rychlak's (1988, 1994) Logical Learning Theory to give insights into Bryan's assessment of mathematics, and discuss what this approach adds to our understanding of this particular case.
ISSN:0013-1954
1573-0816
DOI:10.1023/A:1017987500929