Safe Spaces for Doing Mathematics: Contexts as Invitations for Participation

• In Event: 31.036 - The Role of Gender in Shaping Mathematics Trajectories

Abstract

Objectives
The goal of this paper is to explore how contexts invite and support the development of different mathematical identities by examining two very different contexts: school mathematics and textile craft. These contexts were selected because while they both afford opportunities to engage, explore, and apply mathematical ideas, their histories, practices, and tools vary, specifically with respect to the ways that they signal masculinities and femininities in relation to their activities (Paechter, 2003).
Theoretical Framework
As conceptualized in this paper, mathematical identities are understood as the stories people tell about themselves in relation to their experiences in particular contexts (Hand & Gresalfi, 2015). Participation with a set of practices in a context shapes identities through the way participation is positioned in the context (Gholson & Martin, 2014; Harre & van Langenhove, 1999) and interpreted and made meaningful in relation to broader sociohistorical narratives (Holland, Skinner, Lachicotte, & Cain, 1998). In this work, we focus on how the distinct cultural practices of school and crafting frame expectations for who is expected to thrive, what competence looks like, and what kinds of behaviors count as competent.
Methods and Analysis
Data come from interviews conducted with 10 women aged 25-50 who had more than 5 years of experience with crafting: 5 women who liked school math, took mathematics in college, and chose careers in STEM-related fields; and 5 women who disliked school math, did not take mathematics in college, and chose careers that were not STEM-related. The interviews explored women’s experiences with school math and with crafting to gain insight into their experiences of these domains and the norms, practices, and expectations of the spaces. Each interview lasted between 25-40 minutes. Interviews were analyzed by three coders using both emergent coding methods (Strauss & Corbin, 1990) and discourse analysis (Gee 1999).
Findings and Significance
School math as described by the women was consistent with an objectivist stance towards mathematics that treats the subject as an established body of knowledge that is accessible or knowable to only a few exceptional people (Boaler, 2002; Boaler & Greeno, 2000; Brown, Brown, & Bibby 2008). The identities that women developed in relation to this version of school mathematics were not particularly nuanced, in that they almost always were associated with experiences of success or failure, and attributions of ability to make sense of those experiences.
In contrast, crafting as described by the women has more in common with “reform” math efforts; some of the core practices that are recommended in reform mathematics classrooms, such as normalizing and exploring mistakes (Lampert, 2001), rewarding and celebrating persistence and effort (Boaler, 2015), and working collaboratively across abilities (Horn, 2012) are the same practices that were described and endorsed by the women in their descriptions of crafting. This more creative, open relationship with mathematics offers a very different vision of what might happen to women’s identities if we focus on changing the practices of mathematics classrooms, rather than simply focusing on changing the women themselves.

Authors

• Melissa Sommefeld Gresalfi, Vanderbilt University

• Kate Chapman