Seeing Math Within Repertoires of Practice Across Early Childhood

Daniela Alvarez-Vargas

There is power in the explicit representation of cultures that have been historically erased from mathematical spaces to honor the knowledge and practices of marginalized communities. In this study I use a strengths-based approach to conduct a two-year mosaic ethnography to understand how culturally and linguistically diverse families engage in repertoires of mathematical practices. In addition, I seek to understand how these repertoires of practices shape children’s math development across the home and the classroom. The aims of this project are to (1) understand how families routinely engage in mathematical practices, (2) understand how teachers build home-to-school connections between mathematical practices in the home and in school, and (3) understand how home-to-school connections and mathematical practices are shaped across the transition from preschool to kindergarten. The broader aims of this work are to inform research focused on child development, math education, and teacher education. Across the two-years I seek to develop a mutually supportive and trusting relationship with families and teachers to collaboratively develop mathematical activities that validate families’ mathematical practices and strengthen learning by building on children’s prior knowledge. Together we will develop a collection of culturally relevant mathematics activities and practices.

About Daniela Alvarez-Vargas

Daniela Alvarez-Vargas was born in Pereira, Colombia and moved to Miami, Florida right before entering Kindergarten. She later completed her bachelor’s degree in psychology with a minor in statistics at Florida International University. Dr. Alvarez-Vargas’ experiences helping raise her beloved younger siblings and her undergraduate research with Dr. Shannon Pruden motivated her to pursue a PhD in Education with a focus on Human Development in Context. Dr. Alvarez-Vargas earned a Doctorate degree in Education at the University of California, Irvine with the guidance of Dr. Drew Bailey. In her doctoral work, Dr. Alvarez-Vargas focused on determining how different research methods could be used to evaluate how well educational programs reduce academic disparities, with the goal of informing policy and practice. She is passionate about developing research approaches and educational tools research to support children’s mathematical development from preschool to secondary education. Dr. Alvarez-Vargas focuses on evaluating, designing, and implementing strengths-based learning opportunities for students who have been historically marginalized in mathematics. She strives to balance participatory co-design approaches and causal inference methods to assess what works and for whom and to reimagine novel learning opportunities for children and their communities. Currently, Dr. Alvarez-Vargas is a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Denver, Marsico Institute for Early Learning working with Drs. Doug Clements and Julie Sarama. In this work she engages directly with families and teachers to build math education equity from the community perspective, and to continuously improve and redesign educational tools that support children’s mathematical identity and knowledge work.