Utilization of Revoicing Based on Learners‘ Thinking in an Inquiry-Oriented Differential Equations Class

Abstract

Researchers of mathematics education are increasingly interested in a teacher's discursive moves, which refer to deliberate actions taken by a teacher to participate in or influence debate and discussion in the mathematics classroom. This study explored one teacher's discursive moves in an undergraduate inquiry-oriented mathematics class. The data for this study come from four class sessions in which students investigated initial value problems as represented by the phase portrait of a system of differential equations. Through the analysis and a review of the literature, we identified four categories of a teacher's discursive moves: revoicing, questioning/requesting, telling, and managing. This report focuses on the roles of revoicing as it relates to the development of mathematical ideas and student beliefs about themselves and mathematics. The results show that the teacher used revoicing in the following ways: revoicing as a binder, revoicing as a springboard, revoicing for ownership, revoicing as a means for socialization.