Beyond Hidden Figures: Shining a Spotlight on Constructed Hierarchies of Gender, Age, and Elementary Mathematics
Abstract
This article focuses on conversations about gender and mathematics among other intersecting identities such as age, education level, and professional expertise. I used positioning theory to unpack a conversation at a science museum (between museum volunteer John, prospective teacher Ann, and myself) to share a story about gender and mathematics. I argue that the impact of this conversation from our perspectives as young women who do work in elementary mathematics education should be made visible to recognize and address inequities for women and girls within mathematics and mathematics education spaces. Implications for elementary teacher education include providing opportunities for prospective teachers to share their stories and gendered experiences with attention to intersections of age, gender, and connected disciplinary narratives (in this case, mathematics).
Keywords
Positioning Gender and mathematics Mathematical identities Elementary teacher education Dominant narrativesNotes
Funding
This study was funded by the National Science Foundation (DGE-1424871). This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program under Grant No. DGE-1424871. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
Compliance with Ethical Standards
Conflict of interest
Lynette Guzmán has received a research Grant from the National Science Foundation.
Ethical Approval
All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.
Informed Consent
Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.
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