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The mathematics self-efficacy of rural central Appalachian undergraduate females. PDF

178 Pages·2016·0.8 MB·English
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UUnniivveerrssiittyy ooff LLoouuiissvviillllee TThhiinnkkIIRR:: TThhee UUnniivveerrssiittyy ooff LLoouuiissvviillllee''ss IInnssttiittuuttiioonnaall RReeppoossiittoorryy Electronic Theses and Dissertations 5-2013 TThhee mmaatthheemmaattiiccss sseellff--eeffifficcaaccyy ooff rruurraall cceennttrraall AAppppaallaacchhiiaann uunnddeerrggrraadduuaattee ffeemmaalleess.. Lisa J. Music University of Louisville Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.library.louisville.edu/etd RReeccoommmmeennddeedd CCiittaattiioonn Music, Lisa J., "The mathematics self-efficacy of rural central Appalachian undergraduate females." (2013). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 1032. https://doi.org/10.18297/etd/1032 This Doctoral Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by ThinkIR: The University of Louisville's Institutional Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ThinkIR: The University of Louisville's Institutional Repository. This title appears here courtesy of the author, who has retained all other copyrights. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE MATHEMATICS SELF-EFFICACY OF RURAL CENTRAL APPALACHIAN UNDERGRADUATE FEMALES By Lisa J. Music B.S. Morehead State University, 1994 M.A. Morehead State University, 2003 A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the College of Education and Human Development of the University of Louisville in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Teaching and Learning University of Louisville Louisville, Kentucky May 2013 THE MATHEMATICS SELF-EFFICACY OF RURAL CENTRAL APPALACHIAN UNDERGRADUATE FEMALES By Lisa J. Music B.S. Morehead State University, 1994 M.A. Morehead State University, 2003 A Dissertation Approved on April 22, 2013 by the following Dissertation Committee ________________________________________ Dr. Karen S. Karp Dissertation Director _______________________________________ Dr. Elizabeth Todd Brown ________________________________________ Dr. William S. Bush ________________________________________ Dr. Craig B. Howley ________________________________________ Dr. Robert N. Ronau ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS There are many people who have shown support for my educational journey. It would be too difficult to name them all individually but I would like for them to know that I appreciate each and every one. I would like to acknowledge the contributions of the Appalachian Collaborative Center for Learning, Assessment, and Instruction in Mathematics (ACCLAIM) program to my education. Without this program I would not have been about to accomplish my dream of obtaining a doctoral degree. I would like to thank my coworkers for their support and words of encouragement during course taking and research. I would like to thank my committee for the valuable input they have provided. I would like to extend a special thank you to Dr. Karen Karp for her guidance and numerous edits. Last, but certainly not least, I would like thank my family for their support during this adventure. I would like to thank my parents for providing a supportive home environment during my developmental years which has contributed to my lifelong love of learning. Also, my wonderful husband, Ricky, has been there to encourage me when things were difficult. Additionally, I would like to thank my beautiful children, Joshua, Stephanie, and Kimberley, for understanding when I needed quiet time to work. I appreciate and love you all. iii ABSTRACT THE MATHEMATICS SELF-EFFICACY OF RURAL CENTRAL APPALACHIAN UNDERGRADUATE FEMALES Lisa Jane Music May 10, 2013 This dissertation study was a two-part investigation with a sample of undergraduate students from three community and technical colleges and one university in the state of Kentucky. The purpose of this study was to investigate the factors that contribute to the mathematics self-efficacy of rural Central Appalachian undergraduate females. Two subscales of the Fennema-Sherman Mathematics Attitude Scale, the Confidence in Learning Mathematics and the Effectance Motivation Scale in Mathematics, were used to identify potential interview subjects. The 596 subjects, including 360 females and 236 males, also completed a questionnaire designed to determine their classification as being from rural Central Appalachia, other Appalachia, or non-Appalachia. Female students from rural Central Appalachia were divided into two categories: negative mathematic attitude and positive mathematics attitude. Thirty-seven interviews were conducted resulting in 15 interviews from students in the negative mathematics attitude category and 22 interviews from students in the positive mathematics attitude category. Interviews were coded according to the four contributors to self-efficacy as iv defined by Bandura (1997). The contributors are enactive mastery experiences, vicarious experiences, social/verbal persuasions, and physiological and affective states. Results indicate that students in the negative mathematics attitude category did not receive regular feedback for their efforts to learn mathematics. They also identified with peers that were struggling. Students in the positive mathematics attitude category received regular positive feedback to reinforce their self-efficacy. The students in the positive category also wanted not only to increase their mathematics abilities but to help other students understand mathematics. v TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE ACKNOWLEDGMENTS…………………………………………………………. iii ABSTRACT……………………………………………………………………….. iv LIST OF TABLES…………………………………………………………………. xii CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION………………………………………….……… 1 Number of Earned Degrees………………………….……... 2 Degrees awarded to foreign students……….……… 3 Future Need………………………………………….……... 4 Future Degree/Career Plans…………………………........... 4 Gender Difference………………………………….………. 5 Gender equality…………………………………….. 6 Confidence………………………………………….……….7 Judgment of competence……………………............ 8 Gifted………………………………….…...………. 8 Believing in success………………………………... 10 Questioning ability…………………………. ………10 Female Need for Relationships…………………………….. 11 Sources of Self-efficacy……………………………………. 12 Primary sources of self-efficacy…………………… 12 vi Achievement……………………………………….. 14 Career………………………………………………. 14 Rural Students’ Beliefs about Mathematics………………... 15 Lack of guidance……………………….…………... 16 Mixed messages…………………………..... ………17 Purpose and Research Question……………….…………… 18 Need For Further Research…………………….…... ……....19 II. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK…………………………………. 20 Career Choices……………………………………………... 21 Self-Efficacy Sources………………………………………. 22 Enactive Mastery Experience……………………………… 23 Effort……………………………………………….. 23 Activities………………………………………….... 24 Grades/test scores………………………………….. 25 Vicarious Experiences……………………………………... 26 Role models………………………………………... 26 Parents……………………………………… 27 Peers………………………………………... 27 Social/Verbal Persuasion…………………………………... 28 Support…………………………………………….. 29 Perceived by others………………………… 29 Encouragement…………………………….. 30 Stereotypes…………………………………………. 30 vii Mathematics as a male domain…………….. 31 Female beliefs……………………………… 31 Environment………………………………………... 32 School……………………………………… 32 Home………………………………………. 33 Physiological and Affective States………………………… 34 Avoidance…………………………………………. 34 Influence of teacher anxiety………………….……. 35 Physical……………………………………………. 36 Rural Students……………………………………………… 36 III. METHODOLOGY………………………………………..……….. 39 Sample……………………………………………..………. 40 Appalachia………………………………..………... 40 Rural…………………………………….……......... 41 Community/technical colleges and universities........ 42 Data Collection Instruments……………………..………… 43 Survey instrument………………………….………. 44 STEBI-A and STEBI-B……………..……... 44 Mathematics Attitude Inventory….….…….. 45 Fennema-Sherman Mathematics Attitude Scale……………………….………. 45 Demographic questionnaire………………..………. 48 Interview protocol…………………………..……… 49 Human Subjects Procedures………………………..……… 51 viii

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This dissertation study was a two-part investigation with a sample of experiences, social/verbal persuasions, and physiological and affective .. fifth-grade students, females did not cope well when faced with confusion. high achievement on standardized tests such as the Iowa Test of Basic Skills
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