Date of Award

5-2026

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Engineering and Science Education

Committee Chair/Advisor

Matthew Voigt

Committee Member

Kelly Lazar

Committee Member

Thomas Gjesteland

Committee Member

Lisa Benson

Abstract

First‑generation college students (FGCSs)—students whose parents did not complete a bachelor’s degree—are underrepresented in international research on first‑year mathematics course retention and are often compared to their continuing‑generation peers in ways that reinforce deficit narratives and skew perceptions of FGCSs. This study provides a descriptive comparison between FGCSs’ mathematics identity and forms of capital across the cultural contexts of Norway and the United States through four interconnected papers that address the overarching research question: How do cultural and educational contexts in Norway and the United States influence how FGCSs conceptualize and express forms of capital and mathematics identity in first-year postsecondary mathematics courses?

The first paper in this study (Chapter Two) is a pilot study examining whether FGCSs (n = 10) in Norway conceptualize and identify capital in ways that align with the asset-based theory used in this study. Chapters Three through Five comprise the comparison between FGCSs in Norway and the United States. Chapter Three investigates whether first-year mathematics students in Norway (n = 83) and the United States (n = 267) respond to mathematics identity surveys in comparable ways. Chapter Four draws on results from two surveys to determine if there is a relationship between FGCSs’ forms of capital and mathematics identity in Norway (n = 9) and the United States (n = 13). Finally, Chapter Five uses qualitative interviews to explore how differences in cultural and educational systems shape the forms of capital that emerge as FGCSs in Norway (n = 6) and the United States (n = 6) navigate first-year mathematics courses.

Findings from the pilot study demonstrated that FGCSs in Norway discuss capital in ways aligned with the asset-based theory and recognized vocational capital and age-earned capital as two additional forms that supported their experiences in first-year mathematics courses. First-year mathematics students’ responses to mathematics identity surveys showed that students in Norway did not report a recognition construct when defining their mathematics identities, underscoring how social identity is shaped differently across distinct international contexts. Follow-up interviews identified the cultural difference of Janteloven (broadly understood as a Nordic social code that discourages individualism and personal success) as a defining cultural norm that permeates through the education system and supports structures that impede students from developing a fixed mathematics identity.

Furthermore, the cultural norms embedded within the education systems of Norway and the United States shaped how FGCSs responded to the surveys. Participants reported two instances of capital differences: communicative linguistic (i.e., the ability to switch between multiple communication styles) and narrative resistant (i.e., recognition of inequalities within society and the desire to address systems of inequality). First-generation college students in the United States also reported correlation between narrative resistant capital and mathematics identity. The influence of culturally embedded systems was further reflected in the five major themes from the interviews that illuminate the intersecting instances of capital participants employed to succeed in first-year mathematics courses. Collectively, these results offer a perspective that expands current understandings of capital, identity, and persistence in first-year mathematics courses.

Author ORCID Identifier

0000-0001-9069-0276

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