Chapter 7: How Do You Know Which Way the Arrows Go?: The Emergence and Brokering of a Classroom Mathematics Practice

In this chapter we analyze how a particularly rich and complex inscription known as a bifurcation diagram emerged in an undergraduate differential equations class. We frame the analysis in terms of the construct of a classroom mathematics practice and demonstrate how the brokering moves of the teacher and some students functioned as a mechanism for the initiation and ongoing growth of this practice. Our analysis contributes more broadly to contemporary accounts of how creating, using, and interpreting inscriptions is a social process that reflects the evolving culture of the classroom community, as well as the culture of the broader mathematical community.