Middle School Black Girls' Conceptualization of Belonging Within the Math Classroom

• In Event: Calling in Motivation Researchers: Employing Multicultural and Critical Approaches in Pursuit of Responsible Scholarship

Abstract

Objectives
The goal of this paper is to explore how Black girls in middle school conceptualize belonging and to explore how, if at all, the participants believe the intersection of their race and gender impacts that conceptualization.

Theoretical Framework
This study uses multiple theoretical frameworks to examine the belonging-related experiences of middle school Black girls at school and specifically within the math classroom. Specifically, this study draws upon the frameworks of belonging (Baumeister & Leary, 1995) and school belonging (Goodenow & Grady, 1993; Gray et al., 2018); intersectionality (Crenshaw, 1993) and a phenomenological variant of ecological systems theory (PVEST) (Spencer et al., 1997). Together these theoretical frameworks take into consideration how the perceptions and experiences of the participants interact to create their conceptualization of belonging within the math classroom.

Method
I chose a phenomenological case study approach to better understand the lived experiences and conceptualization of belonging in math classrooms for middle school Black girls (Dyson & Genishi, 2005). To begin, the participants composed a math autobiography in response to a series of prompts. The math autobiographies were collected and reviewed before the semi-structured interviews were conducted to allow for follow-up or clarifying questions. I conducted semi-structured interviews, and with the participants’ permission, the interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed. After the interviews, students were prompted to create a picture of their ideal math classroom. After each student created their picture, they sent an accompanying voice memo explaining the various features of their math class. The voice memos were also transcribed and included as another point of data.

Results
When it came to belonging within the math classroom specifically, the indicators the participants described were the feeling that “I understand the math content,” followed by “I am supported by my teacher,” and “I can receive help and give help to my peers.” The impact of the intersection of race and gender did not come up specifically in relation to their math classroom experiences but was a factor more broadly within the school setting. Participants described instances of discipline being differentially carried out depending on the race of the student, as well as describing multiple times when teachers attributed physical strength to the boys in the classroom instead of to all students when teachers said things such as “I need a strong boy to help me stack the chairs.”
Significance
Research examining Black women and girls' math-related experiences is still relatively small, illustrating what Purdie-Vaughn and Eibach (2008) called intersectional invisibility. Simply put, possessing multiple minoritized identities often results in patterns of misrepresentation, marginalization, and disempowerment (Wilkins-Yel et al., 2019). This invisibility is also present within motivational research due to the lack of studies examining the motivational experiences of Black girls and students of color more broadly. With calls for an increased focus on centering the voices and experiences of students of color, this study creates space for middle school Black girls to guide educators in how to best support their opportunities to belong within the mathematics classroom and in school broadly.

Author

• Brooke Harris-Thomas, Purdue University
  Presenting Author