Seyda Uysal, Florida State University
Thurs., 4/27/2023 from 3:30-4:30 pm CT
Avery 19 or via zoom at https://unl.zoom.us/j/96438025423
Title:
Elevating the Stories of Women: Perceived Competence, Belonging, and Racial/Ethnic Identity in Secondary-Tertiary Mathematics Transition
Abstract:
I present a small portion of data from my dissertation research, in which I investigated women’s mathematical experiences in secondary-tertiary transition (STT) in mathematics, attending to affective and sociocultural aspects of learning environments. Mathematics communities have historically been perceived as masculine-dominated, restricting spaces for underrepresented students from diverse backgrounds and perpetuating male superiority. Given the fact that the majority of mathematical spaces are masculine-dominated, women report a decrease in their perceived mathematical competence and their sense of belonging in university mathematics. The current study investigated the sense of belonging of five women and racially/ethnically minoritized students who were mathematics majors, with the purpose of detailing the links between women’s belonging and perceived competence in mathematics. I used the three-dimensional model for attitude (Di Martino & Zan, 2010) to examine the interrelations among and between students’ vision of mathematics, perceived competence, and emotional dispositions towards mathematics during the STT in mathematics. My inquiry is also guided by the concept of mode of belonging (Wenger, 1998), which involves the components of engagement, alignment, and imagination, each of which helped me identify and conceptualize the notion of belonging in a community of practice. Using narrative inquiry, I gathered three in-depth interviews and eleven weekly reflections in the spring of 2022. In this talk, I focus on Maya’s, a Latina woman’s, experiences in her transition from secondary school to university mathematics with regard to her perceived competence and sense of belonging in her mathematics major. Examining Maya’s lived experiences revealed how stereotype threat influenced her perception of mathematical competence, led her to question her sense of belonging in her community, and restricted her participation in certain mathematical spaces. Informed by the findings of the study, I also discuss some future directions for potential improvement in support mechanisms that can broaden women’s participation in university mathematics.