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This project used narrative inquiry to examine adolescent experiences that contributed to the development of positive mathematics identities in successful African Americans. Ten African Americans, who had worked in a STEM-related occupation for at least two years, were asked to reflect on in- and out-of-school experiences with mathematics during their middle and high school years. Data collection included individual interviews and one focus group discussion. A combination of internal and external factors emerged as contributors to participants' adolescent mathematics identities. Internal factors included early career interest, finding enjoyment in the challenges associated with learning mathematics, or facing setbacks they were determined to overcome. External influences included parents/family members, teachers/school staff, and peers who were influential agents in participants' mathematics socialization. Participants' stories revealed that mathematics identities were developed in several communities of practice--the mathematics classroom, after-school (or school-affiliated) programs, summer programs, and during unstructured free time. The findings offer three possible applications to practice: 1) Continue developing school-based and out-of-school programs aimed at exposing African American adolescents to STEM and allowing them to apply the knowledge gained in the classrooms in the real world; 2) Increase efforts to educate African American parents about the variety of occupations related to STEM and the foundational knowledge needed to gain access to these occupations; and 3) Continue efforts to recruit African American secondary teachers for STEM-related courses.
No matter how mathematics achievement and persistence are measured, African Americans seem to lag behind their peers. This state of affairs is typically explained in terms of student ability, family background, differential treatment by teachers, and biased curricula. But what can explain disproportionately poor performance and persistence of African-American students who clearly possess the ability to do well, who come from varied family and socioeconomic backgrounds, who are taught by caring and concerned teachers, and who learn mathematics in the context of a reform-oriented mathematics curriculum? And, why do some African-American students succeed in mathematics when underachievement is the norm among their fellow students? Danny Martin addresses these questions in Mathematics Success and Failure Among African-American Youth, the results of a year-long ethnographic and observational study of African-American students and their parents and teachers. Mathematics Success and Failure Among African-American Youth goes beyond the conventional explanations of ability, socioeconomic status, differential treatment, and biased curricula to consider the effects of history, community, and peers--and the individual agency that allows some students to succeed despite these influences. Martin's analysis suggests that prior studies of mathematics achievement and persistence among African Americans have failed to link sociohistorical, community, school, and intrapersonal forces in sufficiently meaningful ways, and that they suffer from theoretical and methodological limitations that hinder the ability of mathematics educators to reverse the negative achievement and persistence trends that continue to afflict African-American students. The analyses and findings offered in Martin's book lead to exciting implications for future research and intervention efforts concerning African-American students--and other students for whom history and context play an important role. This book will be useful and informative to many groups: mathematics education researchers, education researchers interested in the social context of learning and teaching, policymakers, preservice and in-service teachers, students, parents, and community advocates. It will also be of interest to readers concerned with multicultural education, cross-cultural studies of mathematics learning, sociology of education, Black Studies, and issues of underrepresentation in science and mathematics.
This third edition of the Handbook of International Research in Mathematics Education provides a comprehensive overview of the most recent theoretical and practical developments in the field of mathematics education. Authored by an array of internationally recognized scholars and edited by Lyn English and David Kirshner, this collection brings together overviews and advances in mathematics education research spanning established and emerging topics, diverse workplace and school environments, and globally representative research priorities. New perspectives are presented on a range of critical topics including embodied learning, the theory-practice divide, new developments in the early years, educating future mathematics education professors, problem solving in a 21st century curriculum, culture and mathematics learning, complex systems, critical analysis of design-based research, multimodal technologies, and e-textbooks. Comprised of 12 revised and 17 new chapters, this edition extends the Handbook’s original themes for international research in mathematics education and remains in the process a definitive resource for the field.
This book focuses on the math identity construction of 11 Black students. High school students' perception of what/who is a math person constrained and limited their sense of belonging to the community of doers of mathematics. This study offers new insights into the racial opportunity-gap in mathematics education.
This was an investigation of students' mathematics confidence and how it is shaped by their accumulated experiences in mathematics education, and informs their view of the purpose of mathematics in their current and envisioned lives. There is no shortage of studies on black students' poor performance in mathematics education and its seeming persistence in spite of reform initiatives and policy changes. Conversely, there is a dearth of studies in the field on high achieving black students and the construction of their mathematics identities. Some scholars have argued that the plenitude of data on the failure of black students in mathematics education has contributed to mainstream beliefs of a racial hierarchy of mathematics ability in America. This perception has not only shaped attitudes and behaviors of educational scholars, policymakers, practitioners, but it has contributed to the alienation of many students from the community of "doers of mathematics." In an effort to combat the pervasiveness of race-based beliefs of math ability, some researchers in the field of mathematics have advocated for the need to refocus research on better understanding students' mathematics identity and its relationship to their performance. In light of this, this study, using ethnographic methods, examined the mathematics confidence-a subset of mathematics identity-of a group of seniors enrolled in honor's pre-calculus at an under resourced urban comprehensive high school. Data collected and analyzed for this study showed that participants, in spite of a history of mostly success in math and despite being socialized to view the classroom as opportunity to challenge disparaging views of African Americans, refused to seek or claim membership to the community of math people. This study provides new insights into black students' perception of and sense of belongingness to mathematics, and its potential impact on their academic and economic prospects.
The purpose of this study was to explore the personal narratives of five recent African American high school graduates, from several rural educational backgrounds, to understand the impact of ruralness on the construction of their mathematics learning process and mathematics identity. Narrative interviewing was used to gain valuable data which was analyzed through a qualitative thematic analytical approach and linear reconstructed narratives. General analysis of the data revealed that African American college students, from a particular university in the Southern part of the United States, who have a rural K-12 mathematics educational experience have distinctive experiences while learning mathematics. Three themes emerged after analysis of this study which were: (1) K-12 mathematics experiences are variable and context-dependent, (2) for better or worse, teacher relationships matter, and (3) positive peer relationships support mathematics learning. Each of the themes mentioned holds salience in the experiences of the African American participants in this study. The findings from this study enhance future research and practice in teaching and the field of education, especially for rural African American students learning mathematics.
The purpose of this study was to synthesize the counter-narratives of mathematically successful African American students. The gap in educational achievement between African American and White students is well documented in the United States, especially in mathematics education. Although Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test scores have increased for both groups at Seminole High School, the gap has remained over 30% for nearly a decade. Most research on this topic has focused on the reasons why African American students fail to achieve. Various individual, social, and organizational factors have been suggested. However, a growing body of research has highlighted the stories of mathematically successful African American students. Using best evidence review methods, an exhaustive review of the literature identified 22 research articles published between 2004 and 2013. All studies collected interview data with mathematically successful African American middle school, high school, and higher education students in the United States. Meta-synthesis was used to synthesize findings across studies. Among the 151 participants across 22 studies, six common experiences were identified as contributing to students' mathematical success: supportive teachers, supportive family, supportive peers, a strong mathematics identity, ability to deal with racial stereotype, and supportive organizations. Most importantly, this meta-synthesis highlights the tendency of prior research to focus on de-contextualized factors rather than understanding students holistically within their broader social and community environment. Insights from this study lead to several recommendations for improving mathematics education for African American students at Seminole High School and for suggested future research on this topic.