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1. Undergraduate students’ participation in Calculus I coursework and peer-led, complementary instruction workshop: Case of Neil.

   Yu, Karmen T (November 2024, North American Chapter of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education (PME-NA))

   In postsecondary education, Calculus has been historically recognized as a “gateway course” for students to pursuit STEM fields. Responding to this issue, researchers at Montclair State University designed a model of complementary instruction to engage Calculus I students in collaborative problem solving on groupworthy tasks. This multiple-case study seeks to address the question, “How do undergraduate students experience their calculus learning in the parallel spaces of coursework and inquiry-oriented complementary instruction?” The findings of Neil’s case study are presented here and include characterizations of the different forms of agentive participation afforded to students in the two spaces, as well as their complementary nature relative to learning calculus with understanding. Implications for dismantling the persistent barriers imposed by calculus on access to postsecondary STEM fields are also discussed. 

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2. Novel Representations of the Experiences of Calculus I Students’ Participation in the Parallel Spaces of Coursework and Complementary Instruction

   https://doi.org/10.31756/jrsmte.318SI  

   Yu, Karmen Tracy; Greenstein, Steven (January 2024, Journal of Research in Science, Mathematics and Technology Education)

   Calculus has long been known for its gatekeeping role in postsecondary students' pursuit of STEM careers. In addressing this pressing issue, researchers at Montclair State University developed a model of peer-led complementary instruction to engage Calculus I students in small-group, collaborative problem solving on inquiry-oriented, groupworthy tasks. This work comes from a multiple-case study that sought to address the question, “How do undergraduate students experience and navigate their calculus learning in the parallel spaces of coursework and inquiry-oriented complementary instruction?” The analytic representations that were constructed to represent the findings of that study are presented here. Those findings include characterizations of the different forms of Calculus I students’ agentive participation and the figured worlds of class and complementary instruction. The analytic representations depict those findings in the form of word clouds and Venn diagrams. The analytical representations of “Victor’s” participation are presented and discussed here, and an argument is made for their particular representational power and efficiency. As such, this work seeks to make a methodological contribution to education research that seeks to characterize the nature of participation by the actors in figured worlds. 

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3. Detailing Racialized and Gendered Mechanisms of Undergraduate Precalculus and Calculus Classroom Instruction

   https://doi.org/10.1080/07370008.2020.1849218  

   Leyva, Luis A.; Quea, Ruby; Weber, Keith; Battey, Dan; López, Daniel (January 2021, Cognition and Instruction)

   null (Ed.)

   Undergraduate mathematics education can be experienced in discouraging and marginalizing ways among Black students, Latin
   students, and white women. Precalculus and calculus courses, in particular, operate as gatekeepers that contribute to racialized and gendered attrition in persistence with mathematics coursework and pursuits in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). However, student perceptions of instruction in these introductory mathematics courses have yet to be systematically examined as a contributor to such attrition. This paper presents findings from a study of 20 historically marginalized students’ perceptions of precalculus and calculus instruction to document features that they found discouraging and marginalizing. Our analysis revealed how students across different race-gender identities reported stereotyping as well as issues of representation in introductory mathematics classrooms and STEM fields as shaping their perceptions of instruction. These perceptions pointed to the operation of three racialized and gendered mechanisms in instruction: (i) creating differential opportunities for participation and support, (ii) limiting support from same-race, same-gender peers to manage negativity in instruction, and (iii) activating exclusionary ideas about who belongs in STEM fields. We draw on our findings to raise implications for research and practice in undergraduate mathematics education. 

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4. Participatory Equity in One Undergraduate Linear Algebra Class

   Smith, J. (January 2023, Proceedings of the Annual Conference on Research in Undergraduate Mathematics Education)

   Cook, S.; Katz, B.; Moore-Russo, D. (Ed.)

   Inquiry and active learning instructional methods have largely been regarded as equitable and beneficial for students. However, researchers have highlighted math classrooms as racialized and gendered spaces that can negatively impact marginalized students’ experiences in such spaces. In this study, I examine the development of one argument, and whose ideas are solicited and leveraged, in an inquiry-oriented linear algebra course with an eye toward participatory equity. I found that gender related most to the inequity of participation in argumentation and that only men participated in generalizing activity. This study adds to the growing literature addressing equity in inquiry and active learning math settings. 

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5. Participatory equity in one undergraduate linear algebra class.

   Smith, J. (January 2023, Proceedings of the Annual Conference on Research in Undergraduate Mathematics Education)

   Cook, S.; Katz, B.; Moore-Russo, D. (Ed.)

   Inquiry and active learning instructional methods have largely been regarded as equitable and beneficial for students. However, researchers have highlighted math classrooms as racialized and gendered spaces that can negatively impact marginalized students’ experiences in such spaces. In this study, I examine the development of one argument, and whose ideas are solicited and leveraged, in an inquiry-oriented linear algebra course with an eye toward participatory equity. I found that gender related most to the inequity of participation in argumentation and that only men participated in generalizing activity. This study adds to the growing literature addressing equity in inquiry and active learning math settings. 

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