Critical, Intersectional, Quantitative Analyses of Instructional Practices and Changes in Undergraduate Students’ Math Affect

Abstract

As interest in the implementation of active learning practices grows, so too does the body of literature illustrating negative experiences of these practices among some populations of students. These trends necessitate a critical inquiry into how students with identities that are traditionally marginalized in mathematical spaces differentially experience active learning practices. We leverage critical quantitative theories to analyze how shifts in precalculus and calculus students’ math affect are mediated by intersectional race-gender identities and the active learning instructional practices of math engagement, peer collaboration, instructor inquiry, and participation. Drawing on a dataset of over 30,000 U.S. student survey responses, we found that experiencing high levels of all four practices increased math affect for all student identity groups in our dataset. Considering each individual practice revealed variation of students’ affective changes based on race-gender identities, such that not every individual practice benefited every student identity group. These findings emphasize the value in promoting the collective high use of multiple active learning practices, coupled with more in-depth understandings and attention to how these individual practices can differentially impact students.