Unpacking discourses about the transition from school to university mathematics: an intensive reading

Abstract

This paper has two main goals: first, to analyze current research related with transition to identify the foci being produced and reproduced by research through a literature review and, second, to map the connections between circulating discourses to unfold the discursive network that supports them via an intensive reading. Specifically, we are interested in how social and economic factors, educational background, and cognitive development impact the transition process and the documented potential challenges students may face. In this fashion, the questions that guide the development of the paper are as follows: What are the dominant narratives in mathematics education research about the transition from school to university mathematics? How do dominant narratives entangle particular rationalities to configure a discursive network about the transition from school to university mathematics? As a result, we identify three dominant narratives entangled, which shape a system of reason that regulates what is possible to do, act, and think.