This dissertation is dedicated to the historical review of female mathematics education during the Progressive Era, from 1890 through 1920. This time period is known in the United States for multiple social reforms. Secondary schools experienced rapid expansion in enrollment, and the purpose and direction of education underwent development and change. During this era, a secondary education, which had been available to few, came to be accepted as a necessity for a majority of children in the United States. During this period of development and change, the educational system encountered several challenges. One such challenge was to tailor curricula according to the needs of different students. In parallel with increased enrollment, labor market demands experienced changes as well, and these changes were especially prominent in the urban areas. Historical evidence documents that the purpose of girls’ and boys’ education was often considered to be distinct. This belief stemmed from the idea that girls and boys had different career paths upon high school graduation. Therefore, differentiation of curricula received needed support and allowed schools to provide an elective system of subjects within high schools. This dissertation provides historical analysis of the mathematics education available for girls in the Progressive Era, focusing on the purpose of mathematics education, on curricula differentiation facilitated by an elective system, and on social factors that affected girls’ enrollment into the mathematics classes when the election of mathematics classes was allowed.

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science. Johannesburg, 1997. / After Mozambique became independent from Portugal, the main aim of the government policy towards education was to create equity of opportunity to enter the formal education system for different social, gender and age groups. However, females are still under-represented in higher education particularly in courses which require an extensive mathematical background. Thus, the purpose of this study was, to explore possible gender differences in performance and attitudes toward mathematics among 1996 BUSCEP students at Universidade Eduardo Mondlane. Those students were tested on several affective and cognitive variables, using a questionnaire and tests. The results suggested that gender performance and attitudes towards mathematics tend to be similar, and the inequalities found, were more evident in the participation in mathematics related careers. These findings emphasise the need to further examine the interrelationships between gender and career choices which should be conducted with students from the secondary school. / AC2017

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1980. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 140-144).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Florida State University, 2005. / Advisors: Dr. Sherry A. Southerland, Florida State University, College of Education, Dept. of Middle and Secondary Education, and Dr. Penny J. Gilmer, Florida State University, College of Arts and Sciences, Dept. of Chemistry and Biochemistry. Title and description from dissertation home page (viewed Sept 19, 2005). Document formatted into pages; contains xi, 249 pages. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.I.T.)--The Evergreen State College, 2010. / Title from title screen (viewed 7/7/2010). Includes bibliographical references (leaves 93-104).

Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Rhode Island, 2008. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 104-113).

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:24:54Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2007-03-08Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T19:06:34Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 cavalari_mf_me_rcla.pdf: 856747 bytes, checksum: 15a64c310d0c333ace3d50bf864d3035 (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / See / Esta investigação tem como objetivo mapear a presença feminina nos cursos e Departamentos de Matemática e Matemática Aplicada da USP (São Paulo e São Carlos), UNESP (Rio Claro e São José do Rio Preto), FFCL de Araraquara e UNICAMP. Desta forma, foram coletados dados relativos à Graduação, Pós-Graduação e Docência, a partir da criação dos cursos de Matemática nestes institutos, até 1990. Estes dados mostraram que quanto mais alto o posto/nível da carreira acadêmica, menor é a presença feminina, por exemplo, as mulheres são mais numerosas entre os Professores Assistentes Doutores que entre os Professores Titulares, afinal, até 2004, somente quatro professoras obtiveram o título de Professoras Titulares nestas instituições. Diversos estudos sobre Gênero na Ciência afirmam que esta é uma tendência mundial e que, independente da área de conhecimento analisada, a quantidade de mulheres é inversamente proporcional ao aumento do grau de instrução/reconhecimento destas, mas que, no entanto, esta situação é mais marcante nas Ciências Exatas. Sendo assim, acreditou-se por muito tempo que as mulheres não tinham predisposição biológica para este ramo da ciência. Portanto, atualmente, acredita-se que este fenômeno é decorrente de diversos fatores sociais. / This research aims at investigating the female presence in the Mathematics and Applied Mathematics courses and Departments of USP (Sao Paulo and Sao Carlos), UNESP (Rio Claro and Sao Jose do Rio Preto), Araraquara FFCL and UNICAMP. In this way, data related to the Graduation, Post-graduation and Teaching were collected until 1990. These facts showed that how higher the position and/or level of the academic career is, the lower is the female presence. For example, women are in higher numbers among Doctors Assistant Professors than among the Titular Professors, as until 2004 only four professors got the title of Titular Professors in these institutions. Several studies on Genders in Science affirm that this is a world-wide trend and, independent of the analyzed area of knowledge, the amount of women is inversely proportional to the increase of their instruction/recognition degree, but nevertheless this situation is more outstanding in Accurate Sciences. Thus, it has been believed that women didn t have biological predisposition for this sector of the science for a long time. However, nowadays it is believed that this phenomenon is a result of several social factors.

Orientador: Sergio Roberto Nobre / Banca: Suzinei Aparecida Siqueira Marconato / Banca: Maria Margaret Lopes / Resumo: Esta investigação tem como objetivo mapear a presença feminina nos cursos e Departamentos de Matemática e Matemática Aplicada da USP (São Paulo e São Carlos), UNESP (Rio Claro e São José do Rio Preto), FFCL de Araraquara e UNICAMP. Desta forma, foram coletados dados relativos à Graduação, Pós-Graduação e Docência, a partir da criação dos cursos de Matemática nestes institutos, até 1990. Estes dados mostraram que quanto mais alto o posto/nível da carreira acadêmica, menor é a presença feminina, por exemplo, as mulheres são mais numerosas entre os Professores Assistentes Doutores que entre os Professores Titulares, afinal, até 2004, somente quatro professoras obtiveram o título de Professoras Titulares nestas instituições. Diversos estudos sobre Gênero na Ciência afirmam que esta é uma tendência mundial e que, independente da área de conhecimento analisada, a quantidade de mulheres é inversamente proporcional ao aumento do grau de instrução/reconhecimento destas, mas que, no entanto, esta situação é mais marcante nas Ciências Exatas. Sendo assim, acreditou-se por muito tempo que as mulheres não tinham predisposição biológica para este ramo da ciência. Portanto, atualmente, acredita-se que este fenômeno é decorrente de diversos fatores sociais. / Abstract: This research aims at investigating the female presence in the Mathematics and Applied Mathematics courses and Departments of USP (Sao Paulo and Sao Carlos), UNESP (Rio Claro and Sao Jose do Rio Preto), Araraquara FFCL and UNICAMP. In this way, data related to the Graduation, Post-graduation and Teaching were collected until 1990. These facts showed that how higher the position and/or level of the academic career is, the lower is the female presence. For example, women are in higher numbers among Doctors Assistant Professors than among the Titular Professors, as until 2004 only four professors got the title of Titular Professors in these institutions. Several studies on Genders in Science affirm that this is a world-wide trend and, independent of the analyzed area of knowledge, the amount of women is inversely proportional to the increase of their instruction/recognition degree, but nevertheless this situation is more outstanding in Accurate Sciences. Thus, it has been believed that women didn’t have biological predisposition for this sector of the science for a long time. However, nowadays it is believed that this phenomenon is a result of several social factors. / Mestre

The purpose of this study was to identify factors that are associated with encourage the persistence of undergraduate women majoring in Engineering and Math (EM) at Florida Atlantic University, University of Central Florida, and University of South Florida. The persistence factors were examined through an analysis of university data and the use of a survey for enrolled senior standing students who declared their first major in engineering or math. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were utilized to collect and analyze data from the three sites. Factor analysis and logistic regression were used to analyze the quantitative data. The quantitative data retrieved from the survey instrument revealed that participants who were self motivated, felt they had a safe learning environment, and were engaged by the university were more likely to persist in engineering and math. Additionally, the survey revealed that race and ethnicity does not predict persistence of undergraduate women maj oring in engineering and math. Qualitative analysis of open-ended survey questions revealed that the most important factor that helps female students persist in engineering and math major was self-confidence and determination. They also indicated that discrimination and stereotyping were the most difficult factors for female students to overcome. To enable more women to be successful in the pursuit of a engineering or math degree, participants made an overwhelming reference to intervention as student engagement. / Student engagement consists of the following: outreach programs, support programs, study groups, homework sessions, women clubs, engineering or math clubs, math and sciences activities, math and science tours, engineering and math societies, educational programs focusing on engineering and math, online courses, women organizations in STEM, positive role models, female teachers, women mentors, exposure to engineering and math, and expanding the career outlooks of young women. They suggested that student engagement must start early and must be continuous throughout every level of the educational pathway and professional life. Recommendations are provided for policymakers and university administrators to continue supporting women majoring in EM and to increase awareness and access that encourage persistence of women in the pursuit of EM career goals. / by Jessica Pena-Lopez. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2011. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2011. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

Female students continue to lag behind their male counterparts in STEM degree attainment despite performing as well as boys in mathematics and science in high school. Female students who expressed interest in mathematics and science may opt out of majoring in STEM once in college. Given that women may not be perceived as mathematics doers, this perception may affect their decision to pursue STEM careers. In many instances, it is the parents’ encouragement that helps their children to be persistent in mathematics and science. It is important to understand how parents’ involvement in the lives of high-achieving female college students contribute to them persisting and belonging in the STEM domain. In this narrative study, I explored parental influence on mathematics performance, self-efficacy and the factors that may contribute to high-achieving female college students’ interest and persistence in the STEM domain. The participants are eight high-achieving female students from an urban community college who are matriculated STEM majors. This study used Eccles et al.’s (1994) Expectancy-Value Theoretical Model of Achievement Choices and Phelan, Davidson & Yu’s (1998) Multiple Worlds Model to explore parent involvement and the factors that contribute to high-achieving college female’ persistence in STEM. Narratives of the female students’ mathematics experiences were constructed from data collected through multiple sources: student interviews, a parent interview, mathematics autobiographies, and questionnaires. Findings indicate that parents and other family members played an integral role in the students’ mathematics performance, mathematics self-efficacy and persistence in STEM. Furthermore, the depth of parental involvement of several of the participants was consistent throughout their college years.