PROCEEDINGS OF THE 15TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE ON RESEARCH IN UNDERGRADUATE MATHEMATICS EDUCATION (Vol 2)
2012
Portland, Oregon
Future Teachers, Views of Mathematics and Intentions for Gender Equity: Are These Carried Forward into Their Own Classrooms?
Page: 2-396
Previous work indicated that an interdisciplinary mathematics and gender course about women mathematicians and their contributions to the field shifts students’ views away from seeing mathematics as the study of numbers and toward a more expert view of what the subject entails. In addition, at the end of the course in the reflective writing portion of a portfolio, future teachers frequently volunteer their intentions to foster gender equity in their own classrooms. This preliminary research report will explore whether, and how, this enriched view of mathematics and the resolve for equity persist and influence the classroom teaching of four former students. It will also seek to determine the particular learning experiences that most contributed to any positive findings. Ethnographic methods, including interviews and classroom observations, will be employed.