238 D43. Geoscience Education (Posters)

Wednesday, 12 October 2022
9:00 AM - 1:00 PM
Exhibit Hall F

“I’M BAD AT MATH AND I HAVE NEVER ENJOYED IT”: INTRODUCTORY GEOLOGY STUDENTS’ INTEGRATED MATH ATTITUDES

Paper number: 238-7
Program: Technical Sessions
Time: 9:00 AM – 1:00 PM

Authors

Abstract

Students develop positive or negative math attitudes at a young age and retain those attitudes through higher education and into their careers (Geist, 2015). College students with negative math attitudes may be more likely than students with positive attitudes to avoid courses and majors with math, like geoscience (Levy et al., 2021). When students with negative math attitudes take courses with math, like introductory geoscience, they have less success on math problems than students with positive attitudes (Barroso et al., 2021). Women tend to have higher levels of negative math attitudes than do men, possibly due to stereotype threat (Luttenberger et al, 2018; Spencer et al., 1999). There has been limited research on students’ math attitudes in geoscience and how those attitudes affect students’ success in geoscience.

We conducted a qualitative study at two universities to explore two questions: What are the math attitudes held by students taking university-level introductory geoscience classes? How do students' math attitudes vary for women and men? We collected and analyzed written narratives from 77 students. In the narratives, students described their thoughts and feelings about math. We identified three integrated math attitudes (IMAs) held by students in introductory geoscience classes. The IMAs were defined by students’ feelings, thoughts, and physiological reactions. Students holding Thriving IMAs had positive evaluations of their math skills and enjoyed math. They described no physiological reactions to math. Students holding Agonizing IMAs had negative thoughts and feelings about math and had negative physiological reactions to math. Students holding Persisting IMAs had positive and negative thoughts and feelings; however, they thought, ultimately, they could persist when doing math. A lower percentage of women than men held Thriving IMAs and a higher percentage of women than men held Agonizing IMAs. About the same percentage of women and men held Persisting IMAs. Students with an Agonizing IMA may be less successful in math activities in geoscience classes and may be less likely to pursue a geoscience major. Women may be particularly impacted because a high percentage of them held Agonizing IMAs. Geoscience instructors should consider implementing lessons to improve students’ math attitudes.

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 54, No. 6

doi: 10.1130/abs/2022AM-381610

© Copyright 2022 The Geological Society of America (GSA), all rights reserved. Permission is hereby granted to the author(s) of this abstract to reproduce and distribute it freely, for noncommercial purposes. Permission is hereby granted to any individual scientist to download a single copy of this electronic file and reproduce up to 20 paper copies for noncommercial purposes advancing science and education, including classroom use, providing all reproductions include the complete content shown here, including the author information. All other forms of reproduction and/or transmittal are prohibited without written permission from GSA Copyright Permissions.