Mathematics club learners’ mathematical identities: Narratives of learners and their class teacher

Abstract

Research into mathematics clubs has shown that learners enjoy mathematics in the clubs more than in their
regular classrooms, while research on mathematical identities has shown a relationship between learners’
mathematical identities and classroom practices. Bringing these two ideas together, I investigated learners’
mathematical identities in a mathematics club and their regular mathematics classrooms. I used a mixed
methods design to explore the mathematical identities of learners who participated in an after-school
mathematics club. The learners responded to a mathematical identity questionnaire before they started in an
after-school mathematics club and after the club ended. Some learners were purposively selected to respond to
two semi-structured interviews, one before and one after participating in the club activities. A teacher who was
teaching the interviewed learners responded to a semi-structured interview about their mathematical identities in
class after they had participated in the club activities. Two paired samples t-test analyses of the questionnaire
responses show a statistically significant difference between the learners’ mathematical identity scores before
and after participating in the club activities. Interview findings show that the learners’ mathematical identities
were supported through participating in the mathematics club, which encouraged mutual engagement, meaning
making, and a sense of belonging. The teacher observed changes in the learners’ participation in the class,
suggesting that participation in a mathematics club that supports strong mathematical identities can influence
participation in the mathematics classroom.