Increasing Gender-based Equity in Mathematics Through Improved Advising

数学课程是本科各专业的核心要求。对于主修科学、技术、工程和数学(STEM)的学生来说，情况尤其如此。学生的数学技能可能会影响他们的学业轨迹，甚至可能影响他们的人生轨迹。关于数学课程的学术咨询会议在为学生塑造富有成效的STEM途径方面发挥着关键作用。在这样的咨询会议期间，导师和学生在决定开设第一门本科数学课程时，共同编写关于数学能力和准备情况的故事。之前收集的一所大型公立大学的数学咨询项目的数据表明，性别互动动态强烈影响着人们对数学能力和准备情况的描述，从而影响课程推荐。试点数据表明，男性往往被鼓励参加更高级或更有雄心的第一数学课程，而他们的女性同龄人在入学成绩和背景相似的情况下，往往会被鼓励参加第一数学课程。直接接触和洞察本科生的咨询会议，可以为女性的STEM途径提供一个明确的潜在干预和根本性转变的地点。这个项目将关注数学咨询的性别动态。这些动态值得仔细审查和严格研究。这种动态应该被认为是灵活的，可以被塑造成服务于对STEM感兴趣的女性和其他数学密集型专业的女性，或者对自己的专业不确定的女性，她们希望通过参加雄心勃勃的数学课程来保持自己的可能性。这个项目将设计和测试一种干预措施，以促进数学咨询会议中的性别平等。这可能有助于理解大专阶段的数学咨询如何影响数学课程安排。这项干预措施将向本科生数学研究和教学社区公开。这个项目探索了一所大型公立大学的四个项目的数学咨询，包括文科学院的普通学生群体以及文科学院、工程学院和商学院的荣誉项目。特别是，这项研究的重点是小规模的咨询事件，发生在人与人之间的几分钟内，作为女性对以STEM为基础的途径以及其他技术专业的磨擦(或错位)的独特关键场所。为了减少性别对数学课程推荐的中介作用，该项目旨在了解不同性别认同的导师和学生之间的互动动态(即谈话、手势和肢体动作)如何影响对数学能力和准备情况的叙述，从而影响课程安排。利用定位理论，结合国际分析，研究小组将分析大约300份学术建议课程的视频记录和调查，以突出在一年级数学课程安排中促进性别平等的具体建议做法。在视频记录分析的基础上，并使用基于设计的方法，该项目的一个关键成果将是干预措施(例如，在线迷你课程)，提供急需的资源，指导学生和导师在数学环境中导航，如数学咨询会议，其中基于性别的数学身份展示受到审查。NSF IUSE：EHR计划支持研究和开发项目，以提高所有学生的STEM教育的有效性。通过参与的学生学习路径，该计划支持有前景的实践和工具的创建、探索和实施。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Mathematics courses are core requirements within a variety majors at the undergraduate level. This is particularly true for students majoring in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). Students' mathematical skills may impact their academic trajectory and potentially their life trajectory. Academic advising sessions on mathematics courses play a key role in shaping productive STEM pathways for students. During such advising sessions, advisors and students co-construct stories about mathematical competence and readiness when deciding on a first undergraduate mathematics course. Previously collected data of a mathematics advising program at a large public university suggests that gendered interactional dynamics strongly influence narratives of mathematical competence and readiness, and consequentially, course recommendations. The pilot data suggest that men tend to be encouraged to enroll in more advanced or ambitious first mathematics course than their women counterparts with similar placement scores and background. Having direct access and insight to undergraduate advising sessions allow for a clear site of potential intervention and radical transformation in STEM pathways for women. This project will focus on the gendered dynamics of mathematics advising. These dynamics deserve scrutiny and rigorous study. Such dynamics should be recognized as flexible to be shaped to serve women interested in STEM and women in other mathematics-intensive majors, or women uncertain of their majors who wish to keep their possibilities open by taking ambitious mathematics courses. This project will design and test an intervention to promote gender-equity in mathematics advising sessions. This has potential to lead to an understanding of how mathematics advising in a post-secondary context influences mathematics course placement. The intervention will be made publicly available to the undergraduate mathematics research and teaching community. This project explores the mathematics advising of a large public university across four programs, including the general student body in the liberal arts college and the honors program in the liberal arts college, the engineering school, and the business school. In particular, the study focuses on the of small-scale event of advising, that occurs in minutes between people, as a uniquely critical site of women’s attrition (or misalignment) to STEM-based pathways, as well as other technical majors. To reduce the mediating effects of gender on mathematics course recommendations, the project aims to understand how the interactional dynamics (i.e., talk, gesture, and body comportment) between advisors and students of various gender identities influence narratives of mathematical competence and readiness, and, thus, course placement. Using positioning theory, along with international analysis, the research team will analyze approximately 300 video records and surveys of academic advising sessions to highlight specific advising practices that promote gender equity in first-year mathematics course placement. Building off the analysis of video records and using design-based methods, a key outcome of the project will be an intervention (e.g., online mini-courses) that provides much needed resources to guide students and advisors in navigating mathematics contexts, like mathematics advising sessions, where the gender-based presentation of mathematics identities is under scrutiny. The NSF IUSE: EHR Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Engaged Student Learning track, the program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising practices and tools.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.