Examining individual and collective level mathematical progress

A challenge in mathematics education research is to coordinate different analyses to develop a more comprehensive account of teaching and learning. We contribute to these efforts by expanding the constructs in Cobb and Yackel’s (Educational Psychologist 31:175–190, 1996) interpretive framework that allow for coordinating social and individual perspectives. This expansion involves four different constructs: disciplinary practices, classroom mathematical practices, individual participation in mathematical activity, and mathematical conceptions that individuals bring to bear in their mathematical work. We illustrate these four constructs for making sense of students’ mathematical progress using data from an undergraduate mathematics course in linear algebra.