Classrooms on college campuses reflect the heteronormative assumptions of society which leaves queer students to navigate learning in a mostly heterosexual and cisgender world. This can influence students' ability to see themselves reflected in course content and it can negatively impact interactions with faculty and peers. Despite research in…

Traditionally, post-secondary developmental mathematics courses aspire to equip students with mathematical content knowledge needed to succeed in calculus and subsequent STEM courses. The literature shows that this goal alone is insufficient, as the emphasis on content acquisition often comes at the expense of developing higher-order skills such…

Given the inherently social context of classrooms, students' beliefs are dependent on the beliefs of their classmates, particularly their classroom friends and popular peers (Ryan & Shin, 2018). I investigated the ways in which students observe and interpret teaching practices in a context of their peers with three studies with the following…

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to investigate the development of social norms in a fifth-grade reform-based mathematics classroom through a close examination of one teacher's actions during the first three weeks of school. This study offers insights into the following research questions: (1) How does an elementary teacher in a…

This dissertation investigates how the intersections of race, class, and gender operate in the everyday teaching and professional norms of middle-class White women teachers--particularly in schools such as the one in this study, where a majority of middle-class, White women teachers serve predominantly low-income, racially and ethnically diverse…