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Stories of mathematical resilience : how some adult learners overcame affective barriers
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Cousins, Sarah B., Brindley, Janine, Baker, Janet and Johnston-Wilder, Sue (2019) Stories of mathematical resilience : how some adult learners overcame affective barriers. Widening Participation and Lifelong Learning, 21 (1). pp. 46-70. doi:10.5456/WPLL.21.1.46
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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.5456/WPLL.21.1.46
Abstract
Some non-traditional adult learners in higher education lack mathematics qualifications, have had negative experiences of mathematics in the past, feel anxious about mathematics, lack confidence, or protect themselves by avoiding the subject. As part of a widening participation initiative, a lifelong learning centre at a large university in England developed a programme of free mathematics lessons for these learners. This paper discusses the findings from a small-scale narrative study which analysed the mathematical stories of four of these learners. The research found that, although previous feelings about mathematics lingered, participants overcame their emotional barriers to learning mathematics with sensitive support from others, specific teaching and learning strategies, and by increasing their mathematical resilience. They were able to move away from feeling frightened of mathematics, to persevere and feel more comfortable with it. The notion of perezhivanie (Vygotsky, 1994) was used to conceptualise the barriers created by past, strong emotional experiences and developing ability to manage the associated feelings.
| Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||||
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| Divisions: | Faculty of Social Sciences > Centre for Education Studies (2013- ) Other > Centre for Lifelong Learning |
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| Journal or Publication Title: | Widening Participation and Lifelong Learning | ||||||
| Publisher: | Open University | ||||||
| ISSN: | 1466-6529 | ||||||
| Official Date: | 1 March 2019 | ||||||
| Dates: |
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| Volume: | 21 | ||||||
| Number: | 1 | ||||||
| Page Range: | pp. 46-70 | ||||||
| DOI: | 10.5456/WPLL.21.1.46 | ||||||
| Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||||
| Publication Status: | Published | ||||||
| Publisher Statement: | © Johnston-Wilder, S. et al. 2019. The definitive, peer reviewed and edited version of this article is published in Cousins, Sarah B., Brindley, Janine, Baker, Janet and Johnston-Wilder, Sue (2019) Stories of mathematical resilience : how some adult learners overcame affective barriers. Widening Participation and Lifelong Learning, 21 (1). pp. 46-70. https://doi.org/10.5456/WPLL.21.1.46 | ||||||
| Access rights to Published version: | Restricted or Subscription Access | ||||||
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