Equity in Mathematics Textbooks: A New Look at an Old Issue

Piatek-Jimenez, Katrina Louise; Madison, Matthew J.; Przybyla-Kuchek, Julia

doi:10.1615/jwomenminorscieneng.2014008175

Cited by 3 publications

(16 citation statements)

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“…By not providing examples of STEM careers in the classroom, we may be perpetuating inequities. Now, considering the intersection of STEM career and gender, we reinforce past findings showing women occupying fewer roles, and less mathematical roles, than men (Hottinger, 2016;Piatek-Jimenez et al, 2014;Rogers, 1975;Tang et al, 2010;Walkerdine, 1998). Considering STEM careers, 7 of the 13 textbooks containing STEM career examples did not contain any examples of women in STEM careers.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 87%

“…However, a second book did not perform as well, with scientific careers more often assigned to nonminority adults. Piatek-Jimenez et al (2014) in fact found that the textbooks they examined were more diverse than the US population, yet inequities were found when investigating the portrayal of different racial/ethnic groups. Little additional research was found on representation of diverse races and ethnicities in textbooks.…”

Section: Race/ethnicity Representationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…If the character included a student, teacher, or professor but did not specify the discipline, we did not classify this as a STEM career. Once we coded for STEM careers, we checked our codes against past research documenting career representation in textbooks, namely Abraham (1989), Piatek-Jimenez et al (2014), and Tang et al (2010).…”

Section: Identifying Stem Careersmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…STEM careers provide fruitful employment opportunities. Yet, women (Cooper et al, 2015; Piatek‐Jimenez et al, 2014; Reiss & Mujtaba, 2017) and students of color (Petty et al, 2013; Piatek‐Jimenez et al, 2014) are underexposed to these opportunities. Further, gender differences in mathematics textbooks could reinforce problematic stereotypes.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Yet, textbooks may reinforce stereotype threat (Petty et al, 2013; Steele, 2003) by positioning women as less mathematically capable (Hottinger, 2016; Tang et al, 2010; Walkerdine, 1998). Similarly, research indicates that people of color have been represented in less mathematical roles (Garcia et al, 1990; Macintyre & Hamilton, 2010; Piatek‐Jimenez et al, 2014).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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An examination of the human presence in precalculus textbooks: What are we communicating to students about who uses mathematics and how?

Marzocchi

Martinez

Truong

2023

School Sci & Mathematics

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Women and people of color continue to be underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), even while STEM fields are faced with recruitment issues and shortages of workers. Mathematics textbooks may be complicit in this issue, with past research indicating that textbooks are not fairly representing women and people of color. Even in instances when representation appears equal, further inspection indicates that men and white characters are given more meaningful and scientific roles in textbooks. Our study investigated the 15 precalculus honors textbooks used in public schools across a county to determine the message that is communicated to potential STEM majors about who uses mathematics and how. To do so, we identified the presence of context, human presence, genders, names, and hobbies/occupations within the textbook exercises. Our study reveals an overall low proportion of real‐life contexts, of humans in general, of women and of gender non‐binary characters, and of STEM careers. Examples of women in STEM careers are strikingly low. To improve recruitment of students to STEM careers, in general, as well as recruitment of marginalized populations, in particular, we must improve representation such that all students are able to see themselves in mathematics and their textbooks.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 87%

Section: Race/ethnicity Representationmentioning

confidence: 99%