RUME 27
2025
Alexandria, Virginia
At the Crossroads of Inquiry and Equity: Synergies and Tensions in Instructor Decision-Making
Page: 706
Although some contemporary definitions of inquiry learning in college mathematics include instructor attention to equity as a core precept, evidence suggests the practice of inquiry-based instruction in proof-based undergraduate mathematics courses entails many decisions whose implications for inquiry and implications for equity and access may not be mutually reinforcing. We present the results of our analysis of over 40 design and facilitation decisions made by the second author as he taught an undergraduate-level number theory course for high school students in a summer residential mathematics program. In our analysis we identify some categories of instructional decisions that have both inquiry and equity implications. We also discuss in detail a scenario in which the instructor was able to choose a course of action that simultaneously supported inquiry and equity goals of the class, and one in which the goals of inquiry and equity appeared to be in tension.