Examining How Instructional Interactions in Mathematics Shape Access to Learning Differently Across Undergraduate Women

• In Event: 32.082 - Roundtable Session 11
  In Roundtable Session: 32.082-20 - Girls as Students in STEM

Abstract

This comparative case study examined the role of core teaching practices in interactions between men teaching postsecondary mathematics and their undergraduate students. An episode of instruction from one of the cases illustrated how an instructor’s varied enactment of core practices created differentiated access to learning for undergraduate women in the class, particularly for Black women. This research contributed to the empirical data on the experiences of undergraduate women by unpacking the within-group variation in instructional interactions in an identity-threat-rich domain – mathematics. Moreover, this study uncovered how the instructors’ inequitable enactments of core instructional practices across gender and racial identity difference positioned Black women on the margins, impacting their access to learning, feelings of belonging, and identity development.

Author

• Esther Alice Enright, Boise State University