Impact of community service learning on middle school African and Latino Americans' understanding of mathematics

The purpose of this study is to examine how community service learning affects students' engagement and mathematical understanding of geometric transformations. Six African American and four Latino American sixth grade students participated in the study. These students attended an after-school community learning service activity over the course of a semester. The community service activity centered on promoting art and culture awareness in their school while the academic goal focused on geometric transformations. The questions that guided the study are (1) how can community service learning engage African and Latino Americans in learning geometry, and (2) what is the nature of African and Latino Americans' growth in understandings of geometric transformations.;For each research question, both quantitative and qualitative data was collected and analyzed. Quantitative data included a pre-and posttest Engagement questionnaire and a pre- and posttest Mathematics Understanding assessment. Qualitative data involved researcher notes, transcriptions, reflection journals, interviews, and Mathematics Understanding assessment. Quantitative data was analyzed by employing nonparametric statistical methods. For the qualitative data, Lave & Wenger's (1991) framework on legitimate peripheral participation was applied to examine participants' engagement in mathematics. Also, Pirie & Kieren's (1994) growth in mathematical understanding model was used to analyze students' improvement in their mathematical understanding of transformations. The findings from the quantitative data did not demonstrate a statistically significant improvement in African and Latino Americans' engagement or their growth in understanding geometric transformations. The results from the qualitative data showed that community service learning engages African and Latino Americans in the mathematics and the activity and may promote students' understanding of growth in understanding of geometric transformations.