An Exploration of the Relationships Between Self-Efficacy and Identity in Mathematics

• In Event: 61.087 - Poster Session 12
  In Poster Session: 61.087-1 - Poster Session: Social Context of Research in Schools and Communities

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to understand the construction of self-efficacy beliefs alongside broader conceptions of identities in mathematics. Using an interdisciplinary framework, the researcher sought to explicitly overlap perspectives from cognitive, ecological, and cultural perspectives. Using data on a sample of African American middle and secondary school students, this study identified the significance of self-efficacy beliefs that explain development in their identity development. From this frame, more attention is directed toward the factors that impact variation in ways of thinking that contribute to resiliency and higher academic outcomes, in addition to the ways in which an understanding of efficacious identities informs increases in the number of students in advanced mathematics.

Author

• Nathan Napoleon Alexander, University of San Francisco