Improving Mathematics Teaching and Learning in an Adult Basic Education Program Using Cogenerative Dialogues

This study explores the use of cogenerative dialogue (cogen) in an Adult Basic Education (ABE) program located in New York City, and the ways in which students and teachers collaborated to cogenerate resources that afforded a positive and equitable learning environment built on solidarity and new perspectives on teaching and learning of mathematics. Cogen was introduced to understand how certain structural characteristics within the classroom environment enable or constrain students' agency and understandings of mathematics. The research presented in this study focuses on improving the teaching and learning of mathematics in a General Education Development (GED) mathematics class from the perspectives of the students--the immediate stakeholders. The theoretical frameworks employed in this critical ethnography are cultural sociology, sociology of emotions and hermeneutic phenomenology, which are used to describe and interpret students' experiences within GED mathematics classrooms and their associated computer-assisted instructed class. Cogen and conversion analysis were used to gather data and process multiple data sources such as observations, interviews, video and audio recordings. Findings from this research depicts that cogen created learning environments that fit the needs of adult learners in which they were afforded the opportunity to co/plan, critique and implement curriculum and instructional practice that value how they learn mathematics as adult learners. Thus, students engaged in the process of evaluating, analyzing and interpreting their mathematical knowledge in the form of sharing, coteaching, and helping each other understand ideas regarding problem solving in a collaborative setting. This research has salient implications for the teaching and learning of mathematics in urban ABE programs, the use of computer-assisted instructed programs and provides insight on how collaborative approaches among math teachers and their students improve and enhance mathematics teaching and learning. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]