1,533 research outputs found
Bourdieu, networks, and movements: Using the concepts of habitus, field and capital to understand a network analysis of gender differences in undergraduate physics
Current trends suggest that significant gender disparities exist within
Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education at
university, with female students being underrepresented in physics, but more
equally represented in life sciences (e.g., biology, medicine). To understand
these trends, it is important to consider the context in which students make
decisions about which university courses to enrol in. The current study seeks
to investigate gender differences in STEM through a unique approach that
combines network analysis of student enrolment data with an interpretive lens
based on the sociological theory of Pierre Bourdieu. We generate a network of
courses taken by around 9000 undergraduate physics students (from 2009 to 2014)
to quantify Bourdieu's concept of field. We explore the properties of this
network to investigate gender differences in transverse movements (between
different academic fields) and vertical movements (changes in students'
achievement rankings within a field). Our findings indicate that female
students are more likely to make transverse movements into life science fields.
We also find that university physics does a poor job in attracting high
achieving students, and especially high achieving female students. Of the
students who do choose to study physics, low achieving female students are less
likely to continue than their male counterparts. The results and implications
are discussed in the context of Bourdieu's theory, and previous research. We
argue that in order to remove constraints on female student's study choices,
the field of physics needs to provide a culture in which all students feel like
they belong.Comment: 23 pages, 6 figures, 1 tabl
Observation of Stable Jones-Roberts Solitons in Bose-Einstein Condensates
We experimentally generate two-dimensional Jones-Roberts solitons in a
three-dimensional atomic Bose-Einstein condensate by imprinting a triangular
phase pattern. By monitoring their dynamics we observe that this kind of
solitary waves are resistant to both dynamic (snaking) and thermodynamic
instabilities, that usually are known to strongly limit the lifetime of dark
plane solitons in dimensions higher than one. We additionally find signatures
of a possible dipole-like interaction between them. Our results confirm that
Jones-Roberts solitons are stable solutions of the non-linear Schr\"odinger
equation in higher dimensions and promote these excitations for applications
beyond matter wave physics, like energy and information transport in noisy and
inhomogeneous environments
Scientific Literacy of Undergraduate Chemistry Students in the University of the West Indies, Barbados: Individual and Joint Contributions of Age, Sex and Level of Study
The purpose of this study was two-fold. Firstly, to determine the level of scientific literacy of Chemistry undergraduate students at The University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus and secondly to investigate the individual and joint contributions of sex, age and level of study to the level of scientific literacy of the students. A total of one hundred and one (101) Chemistry undergraduate students from across the preliminary, 1st, 2nd and final years, participated in the study. The instrument chosen for this investigation, was the Basic Scientific Literacy Questionnaire (BSLQ) developed by Richard Carrier in 2001, which consisted of twenty-four (24) "True" and "False" questions. The instrument was found to be reliable with Crombach Alpha value of 0.6. The contributions of the variables sex, age range and level of study to the level of scientific literacy, were also analyzed and these were done via Independent Sample t-tests, Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and linear regression. A confidence level of 95% was the set level for all of the analyses conducted. It was found that overall, the Chemistry undergraduate students are at a "Good" level of scientific literacy. There were no statistically significant differences in the level of scientific literacy based on age range and level of study. However, sex was found to have contributed most and significantly to variations in the level of scientific literacy of the undergraduate chemistry students
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