Chapter 5: An Exploratory Study of Multimodalities in the Mathematics Classroom: Enrica’s Explanation

In this chapter, we focus on the multiple modalities in play in the classroom when students work with mathematical meanings. In the mathematics classroom, it is typical to see students and teachers utilizing oral speech, written text and symbols, and graphical inscriptions, all in the service of constructing and communicating about mathematical ideas. In the episode analyzed here, a student utilized two primary modalities—speech and gesture—to propose and explain her ideas about solving a mathematical problem posed to the class as a whole. The analysis of this student’s multimodal communication can help shed light on the complementarity and richness of different modalities in the construction and expression of mathematical thinking.