The Interplay of Rationality and Identity in a Mathematical Group Work

This contribution originates from a joint work aimed at networking theoretical tools and employ them to better understand teaching and learning episodes, with a special focus on mathematical group work. In a socio-cultural perspective, two theoretical lenses are combined: the construct of rational behavior, initially developed by Habermas and adapted in mathematics education, and that of identity. In this paper we propose a general description of our approach and present the main findings emerged after investigations in grade 6 (group work on negative numbers) and grade 4 (arithmetics problem solving). The networked analysis sheds light into mathematical group works: the students’ mathematical identities turn into prevailing dimensions of rational behavior and the interplay of dimensions of rationality affects the participation into the group activity. Moreover, the teacher is shown to have a role in students’ identifying process, affecting indirectly the students’ participation.