Exploring the Work of Becoming a Mathematician or Scientist: An Institutional Ethnography

• In Event: Women Student Success in Higher Education

Abstract

Using the framework of feminist standpoint theory, this institutional ethnography sought to describe, explore, and uncover the everyday experiences and institutional practices that guide the process of becoming a scientist or mathematician in physics, computer science, or mathematics for women undergraduate and graduate students at three higher education institutions. Data collection and analysis focused on the day to day work involved with becoming a scientist or mathematician and identified the discourses that coordinated the work of becoming a scientist or mathematician, and if and how challenges were created by the identified discourses. The findings suggest that the discourses associated with becoming a scientist or mathematician created challenges for women students and contributed to a decreased sense of belonging in STEM.

Authors

• Laura Parson, North Dakota State University

• Ariel Steele, Auburn University