This article reports on data collected from a study of 101 students taking a first-year experience course. Using a mapping methodology in an effort to understand what resources students could identify and what relationships they saw between resources, the study showed that resources associated with a specific location or connected with people were…

Mathematics teaching usually occurs in a "public space"--e.g., a classroom is a public space with rules defining student and teacher roles that cultivate hierarchic relationships. Working in prison with young inmates (18-23 years old) from marginalized populations, we promoted alternative "common spaces" (physical and symbolic)…