Girls Who Decelerate After Grade 7 Algebra I: Rhetorical Arguments of Diminished Opportunities to Learn

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 2
  In Roundtable Session: Research on Mathematical Identities, Emotions, and Stereotypes

Abstract

Identities of smartness in mathematics are explicitly assigned to students in the United States when they are selected to hyper-accelerate their study of Algebra I to Grade 7 or earlier. Yet these identities evolve as hyper-accelerated students navigate subsequent courses and reevaluate what it means to be “good at mathematics.” The narrated opportunities to learn of girls who chose to decelerate their mathematics learning after Grade 7 Algebra I reveal strongly gendered perspectives on confidence and competition in advanced secondary mathematics. These stories, expressed as syllogisms and enthymemes, reveal the gendered tensions of Algebra I acceleration as an educational advantage and mathematics as a masculine discipline. Implications for high-achieving girls’ persistence in the STEM pipeline are presented.

Author

• Terrie McLaughlin Galanti, University of North Florida