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Mathematical Identities: Narratives and Discourses of Female Students in 8th and 9th Grade Mathematics

Braaten, Bailey M
http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6058-3226
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1595000898006834

Abstract Details

2020, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, EDU Teaching and Learning.
During students’ mathematics education trajectory, they engage in a path of constructing their mathematical identities within the social and cultural contexts of classrooms. The construct of mathematical identity can be summarized as how a student relates to mathematics. While this seems simple, the implications of how a student relates to mathematics are vast for their academic and career trajectories. Mathematical identity construction is also complicated by other social and cultural influences related to gender and epistemology. As female students construct their mathematical identities in contexts informed by the structures of hegemonic masculinity and the masculine epistemology of mathematics, they can be pushed to the margins. This mathematical identity construction in turn has an impact on their future decisions enrolling in higher-level mathematics courses, and choosing STEM majors or careers after their K-12 education. This dissertation was a two-year (8th and 9th grade) ethnographic study of four female students’ mathematics identities and how these identities relate to gender. This study examined the importance of students’ construction and performance of their own mathematics identities in day to day classroom interactions, the role that gender plays in students’ mathematics identities, and what implications these identities hold for students over time. In the first year of the study, data was collected in a single 8th grade mathematics classroom through video recorded classroom observations, detailed fieldnotes, and interviews of four female focal students. In the second year of the study, the four focal students from the 8th grade mathematics class were observed and interviewed in their 9th grade year of mathematics. The data was examined using qualitative methods of coding with a microethnographic perspective. The discourse of classroom interactions was analyzed using these perspectives to examine how student interactions construct mathematical identities over time. The findings of this study indicate the four focal students’ mathematical identities were (1) constructed in ways related to their gender performativity, (2) subject to change over time, and (3) not always related to mastery of mathematics content. Additionally, the findings were applied to theorize mathematical identity construction as a vehicle for moving toward a feminist epistemology of mathematics that embraces all expressions of gender, and celebrates varied approaches in mathematics. This study holds significance in understanding how gender plays a role in students’ construction and performance of their mathematical identities in classroom spaces during a formative time in their schooling, which is the transition from middle to high school. Based on the findings of this study, it is advantageous to make a cultural shift to the current culture of school mathematics, and operationalize mathematical identity construction as a vehicle to move toward a feminist epistemology of mathematics.
Arnulfo Perez (Advisor)
Diana Erchick (Committee Member)
Michiko Hikida (Committee Member)
Rachel Kajfez (Committee Member)
199 p.
Mathematics Education
mathematics education; mathematical identity; gender

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Braaten, B. M. (2020). Mathematical Identities: Narratives and Discourses of Female Students in 8th and 9th Grade Mathematics [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1595000898006834

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Braaten, Bailey. Mathematical Identities: Narratives and Discourses of Female Students in 8th and 9th Grade Mathematics. 2020. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1595000898006834.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Braaten, Bailey. "Mathematical Identities: Narratives and Discourses of Female Students in 8th and 9th Grade Mathematics." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2020. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1595000898006834

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1595000898006834
324
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This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.