Increasing Gender-based Equity in Mathematics Through Improved Advising

数学课程是本科阶段各种专业的核心要求。这对于主修科学，技术，工程和数学（STEM）的学生尤其如此。学生的数学技能可能会影响他们的学术轨迹，并可能影响他们的生活轨迹。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，顾问和学生共同构建有关数学能力和准备的故事，当决定第一个本科数学课程。以前收集的数据在一个大型的公立大学的数学咨询计划表明，性别intermittent动态强烈影响的数学能力和准备的叙述，并因此，课程推荐。试点数据表明，男性往往被鼓励参加更先进的或雄心勃勃的第一数学课程比他们的女性同行具有类似的安置分数和背景。有直接访问和洞察本科生咨询会议允许潜在的干预和妇女的STEM途径的根本转变明确的网站。该项目将侧重于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，可以被塑造为对STEM感兴趣的妇女和其他数学密集型专业的妇女，或者希望通过学习雄心勃勃的数学课程来保持其可能性的不确定专业的妇女。该项目将设计和测试一项干预措施，以促进数学咨询课程中的两性平等。这有可能导致了解如何在中学后的背景下数学咨询影响数学课程的位置。干预措施将公开提供给本科数学研究和教学社区。这个项目探讨了一所大型公立大学的四个项目的数学指导，包括文科学院的普通学生团体和文科学院，工程学院和商学院的荣誉课程。特别是，这项研究的重点是小规模的咨询活动，这发生在几分钟之间的人，作为一个独特的关键网站的妇女的摩擦（或错位），以干为基础的途径，以及其他技术专业。为了减少性别对数学课程建议的中介作用，该项目旨在了解互动动态（即，谈话，手势和身体举止）之间的顾问和学生的各种性别身份的影响叙述的数学能力和准备，并因此，课程安排。利用定位理论，沿着国际分析，研究小组将分析约300个视频记录和学术咨询会议的调查，以突出具体的咨询做法，促进性别平等的第一年数学课程的位置。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（例如，在线迷你课程），提供急需的资源，指导学生和顾问在数学环境中导航，如数学咨询会议，其中基于性别的数学身份介绍正在接受审查。NSF IUSE：EHR计划支持研究和开发项目，以提高所有学生STEM教育的有效性。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值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.