Supporting Black and Brown Females’ STEM Identity Construction Through Mathematics Teacher Noticing: A Mixed Methods Study

The current study explores the nature of the relationship between a teacher’s experiences and her pedagogical practices that are oriented to support female students of color identity construction in relation to science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) studies and careers. The narratives and class observations of the female mathematics teacher of color who is a STEM career changer were used to identify ways in which the teacher’s lived experiences supported her mathematics teacher noticing and influenced her adaptive teaching practices. Student surveys and individual student focal interviews were analyzed to assess the students’ perceptions of the teacher’s support and their attitudes toward STEM studies and careers. Using narrative inquiry within a mixed-methods case study of an algebra class at a community college in the northeastern U.S., the study employs Black feminist epistemological principles and critical race feminist theory to address the need for mathematics education research that is grounded in the experiences of a female teacher of color and her female students of color