RUME 27
2025
Alexandria, Virginia
“Why Would a Woman Put Themselves in This Situation:” A Discourse Analysis of Gender and Pronouns in Solving a Hat Problem
Page: 1154
The language we use to talk about, do, and learn mathematics informs how we socially construct our understandings thereof. This preliminary report discusses an instance from a different study where the use of feminine pronouns to describe smart logicians in a particular mathematical problem resulted in various reactions from participants. I analyzed participants’ interactions with the given task using an approach to discourse analysis that examines how the grammatical structures of language are used to construct particular meanings. Preliminary findings showcase how participants’ responses to the task reflect broader cultural understandings of who can be a smart logician. These findings are linked to the need for representation in curricular materials and the use of hat problems in the learning of logic and problem solving.