“I am a young immigrant woman doing physics and on top of that I am Muslim”: Identities,intersections, and negotiations

Framed within intersectionality and using science identity as a unit of analysis, in this single case study I explore the barriers, difficulties, and conflicts that Amina, a young Muslim woman, immigrant in Western Europe confronted throughout her trajectory in physics and the ways in which her multiple identities intersected. The main sources of data consisted of three long biographical interviews, which were analyzed through a constant comparative method. The analysis of the data provided insights into how intrapersonal, interpersonal, sociocultural factors, alongside a myriad of experiences nurtured Amina's intersectional identities and what this may mean for Muslim women's participation in physics. The findings are summarized in two main assertions: (a) Amina was confronted with various barriers across her journey in physics with the intersection of religion and gender being the major barrier to her perceived recognition due to cultural expectations, sociopolitical factors, and negative stereotypes and (b) Amina's social class, religion, gender performance, and ethnic status positioned her as Other in various places throughout her trajectory in physics, and consequently hindered her sense of belonging. These findings suggest the urgency and importance of: (a) examining the intersection of science identity with other identities, especially, religion, gender, and ethnicity for the purpose of extrapolating a more comprehensive understanding of how minoritized groups participate in science; (b) rethinking recognition through an explicit intersectionality lens across various geographical and sociopolitical contexts; and (c) transforming physics into a diverse world where multiple ways of being are recognized, where minoritized groups will not have to compartmentalize parts of their identities to exist, and where they can perform their authentic and intersectional identities.     

Play in the house of order: The Necessary Stage's BrainStorm

Abstract

This article opens up the question of modernity in relation to Yan’an woodcuts by recounting the Matisse debate among artists in Yan’an circa 1942, during the War of Resistance against Japanese occupation. Yan’an woodcuts did not move in a direction akin to the stylistic reform engaged by Western modernism; instead they pushed modern Chinese woodcuts to develop according to the requirements of ‘national form.’ Yan’an woodcut artists’ exploration of ‘national form’ involved a synthesis of folk aesthetics and woodcut techniques with the creation of modern‐style woodcuts, and a synthesis of revolutionary content with the artistic expression of national form. In this way a new kind of artistic ideal was realized. Compared with contemporary artistic questions in the West, the formal questions of Chinese revolutionary art surpassed the artistic as such to support rich social content and revolutionary discourse. The establishment of national language in art accords with the desire and imagination to construct of a new kind of modern nation‐state.     

A Content Analysis of Peer Feedback in Triadic Supervision

There is limited research on the types of peer feedback exchanged during triadic supervision. Through a content analysis, the authors found that students provided feedback about counseling performance and cognitive counseling skills most often in supervision sessions. However, there were differences in the types of feedback exchanged across three experience levels.     

Exploring Written Narrative in Children with Poor Reading Comprehension

This study investigated written language production in 10‐year‐old children with impaired reading comprehension. Despite fluent and accurate reading, these children are poor at understanding what they read. Participants completed a spelling test, and were asked to write an extended narrative, prompted by a series of pictures. Poor comprehenders showed age‐appropriate spelling skills, and their narratives did not differ from those produced by control children in terms of length or syntactic complexity. However, their narratives captured less of the story content, and contained a less sophisticated story structure. These findings are discussed within a framework that sees weaknesses in aspects of oral language placing constraints on aspects of written language production.     

Gender-based wage differentials in a predominantly female profession: observations from nursing

Despite numerous studies examining nursing wages, very little attention has focused on nursing wage differentials. We build on previous research by modeling nursing wages and examining male–female wage differences within the context of the current nursing shortage. Our results show that male nurses do earn a wage premium, largely explained by employment as a nurse anesthetist, job satisfaction, and experience. Whether or not this differential indicates discrimination toward females in the US nursing labor market is unclear. Since males represent a small proportion of the nursing workforce, the time required for males to become prevalent in the nursing labor market and help ease the nursing shortage is unknown. Consequently, one must ask whether the male wage premium is sufficient to attract substantial numbers of men into nursing, and whether wages, in general, are sufficient to attract the requisite numbers of males and females into nursing to address the shortage ‘crisis’.     

Tell me a Story: the use of narrative as a learning tool for natural selection

Grounded within literature pointing to the value of narrative in communicating scientific information, the purpose of this study was to examine the use of stories as a tool for teaching about natural selection in the context of school science. The study utilizes a mixed method, case study approach which focuses on the design, implementation, and evaluation of narrative-based curriculum materials. The data consisted of questionnaires, classroom observations, and interviews with the students and teachers. The analysis of the data showed that most of the students developed adequate scientific understandings about natural selection and they perceived the narrative as easier to comprehend than the textbook. The findings speak to the need for examining ways of blending narrative effectively into science lessons.     

An Investigation of Broad and Narrow Personality Traits in Relation to General and Domain-Specific Life Satisfaction of College Students

Based on a sample of 532 undergraduates at a Southeastern U.S. university, Big Five and narrow personality traits were examined in relation to a measure of satisfaction with specific domains of college experience (College Satisfaction) and a measure of General Life Satisfaction. Four of the Big Five traits—Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Emotional Stability and Extraversion—as well as the narrow traits of Aggression, Career Decidedness, Optimism, Self-Directed Learning, Sense of Identity, and Work Drive were positively, significantly related to both satisfaction measures. Results of hierarchical regression analyses showed that the Big Five traits accounted for 45% of Life Satisfaction variance with Sense of Identity contributing an additional 7%, and College Satisfaction, 6%. It was suggested that who students become in college and how satisfied they are with different aspects of collegiate experience may be primarily determined by who they are when they enter college. Similarities were noted to findings of personality traits and academic performance, job performance, and adult career and life satisfaction. Implications were discussed in terms of Chickering and Reisser’s major vectors for college development as well as for admissions decisions and enhancing student-environment fit in advising, orientation, counseling, and career planning, among others.