RUME 28
2026
Alexandria, Virginia
Mathematics Identity and Belonging in an Undergraduate General Education Terminal Mathematics Course
Page: 1492
With the goal of enhancing student equity in undergraduate general education terminal mathematics courses, Homp et al. (in progress) implemented inclusive instructional strategies, namely, biographical writing assignments on current, historically minoritized mathematicians. This study explores student artifacts to analyze changes in the students' sense of belonging. A pre- and post-survey adapted from Hazari et al. (2020) revealed a statistically significant increase in students’ sense of belonging within the broader mathematical community. Using Gutiérrez’s (2012) framework for equity in mathematics education—comprising the dimensions of access, achievement, identity, and power— Early in the semester, students primarily focused on mathematicians’ achievements, but later writings included a focus on the identities of the mathematicians. This suggests the instructional tasks described here, which are relatively simple and inexpensive to implement, can have a significant impact on improving mathematical identity for students in a general education mathematics course.