Date of Award
5-2025
Document Type
Project
Degree Name
Master of Arts in Mathematics
Department
Mathematics
First Reader/Committee Chair
Marsh, Dalton
Abstract
A student’s sense of belonging in math describes the extent to which a student feels that they are a member of their math community. It is important to study math sense of belonging because it is believed that when a student feels that they are a valued and respected part of their math community, they are more likely to exhibit higher participation and performance in their math class and take more math courses in high school and college. They also have an increased chance of pursuing a STEM career. In this study, we investigated the math sense of belonging of adolescents in high school. We examined differences between groups; in particular, between male and female students. Considering STEM fields have a majority of male members, we anticipated male students to have a higher sense of belonging in math over their female peers. Our results indicated the female students had a lower level of math sense of belonging than their male peers. When compared to previous research, our gender difference found was much greater in magnitude and statistical significance.
Recommended Citation
Stevenson, Marie Louise, "HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS’ SENSE OF BELONGING IN MATH" (2025). Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations. 2211.
https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/etd/2211