"You Must Be Smart": Intersecting Gender, Ethnicity, and Degree Type in the Lives of University Mathematics Majors
- Degree Grantor:
- University of California, Santa Barbara. Education
- Degree Supervisor:
- Yukari Okamoto
- Place of Publication:
- [Santa Barbara, Calif.]
- Publisher:
- University of California, Santa Barbara
- Creation Date:
- 2014
- Issued Date:
- 2014
- Topics:
- Education, Mathematics, Education, Higher, and Gender Studies
- Keywords:
- Mathematics Majors,
STEM Education,
Ethnicity,
Intersectionality,
Postsecondary Mathematics, and
Gender - Genres:
- Online resources and Dissertations, Academic
- Dissertation:
- Ph.D.--University of California, Santa Barbara, 2014
- Description:
Many students struggle with the transition into and through university mathematics because they are entering a world that more closely aligns to the language and practices of mathematicians rather than K-12 mathematics. As yet, few studies have focused on how some groups of students experience, succeed, and persist in university mathematics. And fewer still have provided continued examination of the ways that gender and ethnic identities position students' perceptions of mathematics as field and of the ways mathematics is taught. This study focused on how university mathematics majors viewed and perceived the ways that gender and ethnicity impacted their own and others' experiences in mathematics. Data were collected through 35 interviews and three focus groups with a subsample of participants at a public university in Southern California. Data were thematically analyzed in multiple rounds with an intersectional lens, which resulted in three sets of findings: how mathematics majors perceived gender to have impacted university mathematics and their experiences, how mathematics majors perceived ethnicity to have impacted university mathematics and their experiences, and the ways the Bachelor of Arts (BA) degrees were feminized and devalued by students, professors, and the department. These findings suggest that bias around gender and ethnicity in postsecondary mathematics continues, and pervasive stereotypes about "good" mathematics students as predominantly European American and male exist. I close with recommendations for sustainable and positive changes that could be incorporated into policy, curricula, and campus support to improve participation rates of both women and Latino/a students.
- Physical Description:
- 1 online resource (219 pages)
- Format:
- Text
- Collection(s):
- UCSB electronic theses and dissertations
- Other Versions:
- http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&res_dat=xri:pqm&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:3682893
- ARK:
- ark:/48907/f30g3h90
- ISBN:
- 9781321567687
- Catalog System Number:
- 990045118160203776
- Copyright:
- Hilary Dwyer, 2014
- Rights:
- In Copyright
- Copyright Holder:
- Hilary Dwyer
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