Exploring Situated Insights into Research and Learning

Abstract

In this report I offer an exploration of the insights that may be provided by a situated perspective on learning. Through an extension of my previous analysis of students learning mathematics in 2 schools (Boaler, 1998), I consider the ways in which a focus on the classroom community and the behaviors and practices implicit within such communities may increase one's understanding of students' mathematical knowledge production and use. The implications of such a focus for classroom pedagogy and assessment as well as for research in mathematics education are considered.