“Walk It Like I Talk It”: AR-Enhanced Community-Embedded Math Walks as a Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy for Underrepresented and Underserved Racially and Ethnically Minoritized Girls

Alternative Title

AR-Enhanced Community-Embedded Math Walks as a Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy for UUREM Girls

Authors

• Saki Milton, Southern Methodist UniversityFollow

Subject Area

Education

Abstract

The underrepresentation of underrepresented and underserved racially and ethnically minoritized (UUREM) girls in mathematics and STEM reflects a longstanding problem within traditional mathematics education. Informal mathematics learning environments offer transformative alternatives, yet existing research has insufficiently centered equity for this population. Guided by an equity-oriented theory of change model, this dissertation examines how augmented reality (AR)-enhanced, community-embedded math walks shaped UUREM middle school girls’ mathematical understanding, attitudes, and cultural identities during problem-posing at a nonprofit STEM club in the southwestern United States. Findings reveal that mathematical understanding and cultural identity affirmation were interconnected rather than isolated. Mathematical understanding emerged through contextual reasoning grounded in community cultural wealth, AR tools served as mathematical-cultural mediators extending that reasoning into formal modeling, and mathematical depth arose under specific conditions of persistence and pedagogical redistribution of authority. Together, these findings contribute empirical evidence for design recommendations for informal mathematics educators.

Degree Date

Spring 5-16-2026

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Department

Teaching and Learning

Advisor

Candace Walkington, Ph.D.

Second Advisor

Anthony Petrosino, Ph.D.

Third Advisor

Nicole Joseph, Ph.D.

Fourth Advisor

Quentin Sedlacek, Ph.D.

Acknowledgements

This project is funded by the National Science Foundation under Grant DRL 2115393. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

Number of Pages

264

Format

.pdf

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License

Recommended Citation

Milton, Saki, "“Walk It Like I Talk It”: AR-Enhanced Community-Embedded Math Walks as a Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy for Underrepresented and Underserved Racially and Ethnically Minoritized Girls" (2026). Teaching and Learning Theses and Dissertations. 25.
https://scholar.smu.edu/simmons_dtl_etds/25