Disciplinary Literacy in Mathematics
Disciplinary literacy, with respect to mathematics, refers to the ability to comprehend and implement mathematical concepts and principles. Students who possess mathematical literacy are able to construct arguments and critique proofs of others, attend to precision and accuracy, and persevere when solving complex problems, amongst other abilities. The common core state standards for mathematics help outline the most essential skills under the umbrella of mathematical literacy.
Mathematical texts vary immensely in genre and appearance, and thus it is important to emphasize not only the content within these texts, but how to interpret and analyze texts. For example, when constructing arguments and critiquing proofs, it is important to pay attention to certain aspects of proofs, and to have an expectation for how a proof ought to be organized. Another crucial aspect of mathematical literacy is maintaining a level of precision in one's calculations, graphs, definitions, explanations, and symbols. This skill is essential for mathematics, but other subjects as well. In particular, significant figures are commonly implemented in chemistry and physics. Additionally, the heart of mathematics is perseverance, whether it is solving a multi-step word problem, or devising a thorough geometric proof, or computing volumes of irregular shapes. Mathematical literacy is learned and practiced when students interact with mathematical texts by reading them, critiquing them, and/or creating them.
Each of the three skills listed above (in bold) are critical for interpreting mathematical texts, and help students to apply content knowledge in real-life situations. When teaching mathematical concepts, it is important to consider how to instruct students in a way that builds their mathematical literacy and introduces them to the disciplinary purpose of the content. As an expert in my content area, it can be easy to take mathematical literacy for granted, but it is important to expose students to a variety of mathematical texts throughout their learning process.
Below are some examples of texts to be used in the Algebra 2 class I am assistant teaching.
Mathematical texts vary immensely in genre and appearance, and thus it is important to emphasize not only the content within these texts, but how to interpret and analyze texts. For example, when constructing arguments and critiquing proofs, it is important to pay attention to certain aspects of proofs, and to have an expectation for how a proof ought to be organized. Another crucial aspect of mathematical literacy is maintaining a level of precision in one's calculations, graphs, definitions, explanations, and symbols. This skill is essential for mathematics, but other subjects as well. In particular, significant figures are commonly implemented in chemistry and physics. Additionally, the heart of mathematics is perseverance, whether it is solving a multi-step word problem, or devising a thorough geometric proof, or computing volumes of irregular shapes. Mathematical literacy is learned and practiced when students interact with mathematical texts by reading them, critiquing them, and/or creating them.
Each of the three skills listed above (in bold) are critical for interpreting mathematical texts, and help students to apply content knowledge in real-life situations. When teaching mathematical concepts, it is important to consider how to instruct students in a way that builds their mathematical literacy and introduces them to the disciplinary purpose of the content. As an expert in my content area, it can be easy to take mathematical literacy for granted, but it is important to expose students to a variety of mathematical texts throughout their learning process.
Below are some examples of texts to be used in the Algebra 2 class I am assistant teaching.
Below are some other examples of mathematical texts.
The blog looks great Danielle! I think you put together a great overview of what disciplinary literacy looks like in mathematics - the concrete examples you gave of important skills helped me get a better grasp of what disciplinary literacy is. Thanks also for mentioning how the common core state standards support and define disciplinary literacy in math. That's a good point - our state standards do lay out a very comprehensive outline of math literacy goals.
ReplyDeleteDear Danielle,
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your comprehensive and thoughtful response to blog #1! You made many good points about disciplinary literacy in mathematics and how it differs in some ways (and is also the same in some ways) from disciplinary literacy in other content areas.
I appreciate the 3 skills you shared-
*construct arguments and critique proofs of others,
*attend to precision and accuracy, and
*persevere when solving complex problems
For each of these skills you provided logical reasons that these skills are important in math.
Thank you for sharing some examples of alternative texts in math. It is so important that students learn to access and comprehend these extra ways of getting information!
I love reading your insights, Danielle! It is a pleasure getting to work with you, again!
Sincerely, Julie Elvin