Abstract
This paper considers the nature of mathematics classrooms as communities of practice and the social practice of teacher questioning. Theories of participation in situated practices are a rich way to understand the way in which cognition and learning are social. However, on their own they do not enable us to understand all that happens or is experienced in classrooms. In particular, the concept of an individuals ‘life-world’ is helpful in understanding classroom interactions. I present material that resulted from research with a class of eleven and twelve year old students in the UK. I discuss the students’ experience of different teacher questioning strategies and their response to them. By highlighting features such as authority, diversity and conflict, I suggest that mathematics classrooms can be seen as communities of political practice.
