Expansive framing of mathematics and its influence on nursing students’ perceptions of mathematics’ value and transferability across disciplines

Nursing students often perceive little value in learning mathematics beyond simple calculations during their undergraduate academic preparation and have difficulty transferring their mathematics learning to the nursing profession. Expansive framing (EF) is a theory and instructional approach that supports connections across disciplines through teachers’ framing of content and learning contexts. In this study, we used EF principles in an undergraduate College Algebra course for nursing students in the United States. The purpose of the study was to investigate nursing students’ perceptions of College Algebra’s value and transferability after participating in three expansively framed webinars. We explored whether creating intercontextuality through broad framing in their webinar instruction improved students’ perceptions of mathematics value and transferability to the medical field. Data included Value Beliefs survey responses and semi-structured interviews from 11 participants. The findings highlight themes related to the instructor’s role in creating intercontextuality, student perceptions of valuable mathematics and specific classroom activities that contributed to changing perceptions. Overall, intercontextuality was a motivator of changes in nursing students’ perceptions of mathematics value and transferability, and students’ perceptions of transferability often led to improved perceptions of value of mathematics, which is a new contribution to the theory of EF.