Studies of discourse are prevalent in mathematics education, as are investigations on facilitating change in instructional practices that impact student attitudes toward mathematics. However, the literature has not sufficiently addressed the operationalization of the commognitive framework in the context of Calculus I, nor considered the…

The purpose of this study was to evaluate high school students' performance in analyzing complex arguments with the support of an off-the-shelf argument mapping software, Rationale™, which provides diagramming tools with guided prompts. This study attempts to: (1) evaluate the quality of student's argument maps in terms of structural…

In response to a proliferation of early literacy policy interventions and heightened and divisive rhetoric around an often-misunderstood concept referred to as the science of reading, this study interrogates the discourse surrounding a state-level early literacy policy within three distinct realms: the macropolitical, the local media, and the…

Despite the standardization of calculus education as a Calculus and Analytic Geometry course after the 1950s, curriculum updates have been slow to penetrate the undergraduate mathematics classroom practice, taking decades to manifest. Common struggles with the teaching and learning of calculus, such as relying on a procedural understanding of…

After being introduced to "ambitious" teaching methods during teacher education, only some beginning teachers attempt to enact those methods, as others gravitate toward the conventional practices that overwhelm K-12 settings. To learn more about why, I conducted a multiple-case study of four beginning secondary mathematics teachers who…

Complex Instruction (Cohen & Lotan, 2014) is a groupwork pedagogy aimed at making classrooms equitable. The notion of status is at the core of this pedagogy and guides how teachers ought to respond to inequitable groupwork. In this dissertation study, I consider how the concept of status (from Expectation States Theory) is applied within…

To achieve ambitious and equitable mathematics education, districts will likely have to extend their efforts beyond the bounds of classroom teaching and learning, and also address the social and political aspects involved in improving mathematics education. However, the literature has yet to explore the underlying boundaries that determine which…

Chemistry is considered a difficult subject by most students. Its difficulty lies in Chemistry's complex and abstract nature. This highly abstract nature requires constant interplay and coordination between the macroscopic, particulate, and symbolic representations. Experts can successfully navigate the various representations without overloading…

The dominant image of mathematics as an abstract, universal, disinterested, and pure body of knowledge both misrepresents disciplinary practice and alienates many students. Undergraduate proof-based courses such as real analysis, which are supposed to introduce students to contemporary academic mathematics, often contribute to such idealized…

The commitment to Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Access (IDEA) has come at a precarious time, which finds education and schooling under attack by hate-filled and dehumanizing rhetoric. The current socio-political climate situates education and teachers as a public enemy, and an onslaught of anti-equity education bills in legislatures have been…

This qualitative dissertation focuses on intercultural communicative competence (ICC) in a video-mediated environment, as ICC is considered to be one of the most vital skills language learners need to have in the 21st century to successfully communicate and interact with their interlocutors. More specifically, the aim of my dissertation research…

This dissertation study was set within a collaborative, discussion-based classroom intervention called Collaborative Social Reasoning (CSR). In this study, I aim to examine teacher scaffolding moves, or strategies used to support students' learning, in relationship with student equity in CSR discussions. Equity indicators analyzed include uptake,…

Neoliberalism has become the hegemonic rationality of our time, framing nearly every aspect of our social world in terms of competition. This dissertation sheds light on neoliberal infiltration and naturalization within the field of language education through three distinct but interrelated papers. "In Discourses of Dual Language Bilingual…

The recent implementation of rigorous standards in mathematics education has required shifts in classroom practices. Standards-based instruction places large emphasis on students' conceptual understanding, requiring them to demonstrate high cognitive levels of mastery of the content through communication of their mathematical reasoning. Teachers…

This phenomenological study research presents an option to use both discourse in the native language and technology as an alternative to improve the understanding of mathematics in secondary education. 13 students whose native language is Spanish attended a high school in a large urban school district in the Southwest of the United States,…