Date of Award:

5-2015

Document Type:

Dissertation

Degree Name:

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department:

School of Teacher Education and Leadership

Department name when degree awarded

Teacher Education and Leadership

Committee Chair(s)

Amy Bingham Brown

Committee

Amy Bingham Brown

Committee

Patricia Moyer-Packenham

Committee

Amy Alexandra Wilson

Committee

Susan Turner

Committee

Yanghee Kim

Abstract

Through interviews with college students, this qualitative study explored how the students' experiences with their secondary mathematics teachers affected their relationship with mathematics, known as mathematical identity. The study was rooted in the idea that learning is an experience of identity and in John Dewey's theory that all experiences are inextricably linked to past and future experiences. The eight college students' interview responses were written into biographical narratives and then analyzed within preselected themes related to experiences with secondary teachers and dimensions of mathematical identity. These themes were determined through a review of previously published studies on those topics.

The study answered three research questions: What kind of experiences did students recall having with their secondary mathematics teachers? How did students perceive that those experiences influenced their mathematical identities? What common student experiences positively or negatively affecting mathematical identity emerged from the data? Two general factors that affect student mathematical identity emerged from the research: student-teacher interactions and student-mathematics interactions. Positive student-teacher relationships were foundational to the overall connection. In essence, students with poor mathematical identities had determined mathematics was not worth knowing because their teachers were not worth knowing, while students with positive identities had teachers who created safe and respectful learning environments. Additionally, meaningful mathematics learning experiences contributed to positive identities.

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0650c9398bb5c337c974d285430d9aec

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