Illustrating Student Mathematics Identities Through a Network of Identity Frameworks

Abstract

In this paper, we briefly introduce three theoretical frameworks for mathematical identity and why they matter to practitioners teaching undergraduate mathematics courses. These frameworks are narrative identities, communities of practice, and figured worlds. After briefly describing each theory, we provide examples of how each framework can be used to interpret or inform classroom discourses by applying the framework to a selected transcript from a student-centered mathematics project called the Catwalk problem. We summarize how an awareness of students’ forming mathematical identities can be used positively in the undergraduate classroom to help educators support students to form productive mathematical identities.

KEYWORDS:

• Identity
• calculus
• mathematics education
• catwalk

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This paper was initially developed as a collaborative project in the course MSED 296A Theories and Applications of Mathematics and Science Education at the University of California San Diego. Special thanks to Shawn Firouzian and Carren Walker for their contributions and valuable insights from discussions in the course.

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Matthew Voigt

Matthew Voigt is an assistant professor of STEM Education in the Department of Engineering and Science Education at Clemson University. His research focuses on equity in mathematics education, with a particular focus on the experiences of queer students in undergraduate mathematics. Voigt examines mathematics discourses related to sexual identity and gender identity that often marginalize queer and transgender students.

Lynda Wynn

Lynda Wynn is an assistant professor of Mathematics at California State University Stanislaus. She primarily teaches mathematics courses for preservice elementary and secondary teachers. Her research centers on improving the experiences of emergent multilingual students in secondary mathematics, including how they are supported in engaging in mathematical practices by their teachers and by the available curriculum materials.

Katie Bjorkman

Katie Bjorkman is an assistant professor of Mathematics at Richard Bland College of William & Mary where she also serves as the director of the Mathematics and Science Learning Center. Her research focuses on STEM tutoring as a socio-cultural interaction and how tutoring can be used to improve not only academic knowledge and skills but also help tutors and students form positive mathematical identities.

Stanley M. Lo

Stanley M. Lo is an associate teaching professor of Cell and Developmental Biology and affiliate faculty in the doctoral program in Mathematics and Science Education at the University of California San Diego. With broad interests in faculty and student identity in postsecondary education, his research group examines how faculty conceptions of diversity, learning, and teaching inform their instructional practices and how student identity intersects with their experience and learning, especially for transfer students in the biological sciences.