The study presented here examined the use of asset-based pedagogies in a secondary mathematics classroom. Asset-based pedagogies, as defined by López (2017), value the cultures of students in the classroom instead of viewing them as deficits. The research goals of the study were to document the creation of a secondary mathematics unit utilizing asset-based pedagogies, to explore teacher and student’s perceptions of implementation of asset-based pedagogies and to identify if students’ views of mathematics shifted after the implementation of asset-based pedagogies. A collection of student surveys, asset-based pedagogy rubrics, and student journals were collected to make observations about students’ perceptions of teacher implementation of asset-based pedagogies. A teacher journal was also collected to provide insight into the teacher’s perceptions of the implementation and development of asset-based pedagogies. Open coding and constant comparative methods (Corbin & Strauss, 2008) were used to find emerging themes in the data. Although the findings did not provide significant results in terms of the research questions, they provide important implications for further studies and recommendation for novice teachers trying to incorporate asset-based pedagogies in the classroom.
