119 research outputs found
Gender Issues in Education for Science and Technology: Current Situation and Prospects for Change
Girls and women remain substantially under-represented in mathematics, science, and technology in school and in the workplace. Although this problem is recognized, its complexity is widely underestimated and causes are not well understood. We review prevailing explanations, which tend to concentrate either on possible gender differentials in qualities such as self-confidence, or on school practices that allow boys to dominate classroom interaction and monopolize such technology as computers. We also identify disadvantageous features of higher education and the workplace. We then consider what is known about educational innovation, especially in the area of gender equity, and describe some interventions concerned with gender and science and technology education. Finally, we raise unresolved questions and issues about gender equity efforts in science and technology education and suggest directions for research. Les filles et les femmes sont nettement sous-reprĂ©sentĂ©s en mathĂ©matiques, en science et en technologie Ă lâĂ©cole et sur le marchĂ© du travail. Bien que ce problĂšme soit reconnu, sa complexitĂ© est largement sous-estimĂ©e et ses causes ne sont pas bien comprises. Les auteurs passent en revue les explications qui ont prĂ©sentement cours, lesquelles tendent Ă mettre en relief soit les diffĂ©rences qui existeraient entre les sexes pour ce qui est, par exemple, de la confiance en soi, soit les pratiques scolaires qui permettent aux garçons de dominer lâinteraction en classe et de monopoliser la technologie, comme les ordina- teurs. Les auteurs identifient Ă©galement les caractĂ©ristiques dĂ©savantageuses de lâĂ©ducation supĂ©rieure et des milieux de travail. Ils se penchent ensuite sur les connaissances actuelles au sujet des innovations en Ă©ducation, particuliĂšrement dans le domaine de lâĂ©galitĂ© entre les sexes, et dĂ©crivent quelques interventions tenant compte du sexe dans lâenseignement des sciences et de la technologie. Ils terminent en soulevant quelques questions non rĂ©- glĂ©es au sujet des efforts Ă faire en matiĂšre dâĂ©galitĂ© des sexes dans les cours de science et de technologie et proposent des orientations pour la recherche.
Fast Professors, Research Funding, and the Figured Worlds of Mid-Career Ontario Academics
Heightened pressures to publish prolifically and secure external funding stand in stark contrast to the slow scholarship movement. This article explores ways in which research funding expectations permeate the âfigured worldsâ of 16 mid-career academics in education, social work, sociology, and geography in seven universities in Ontario, Canada. Participants demonstrated a steady record of research accomplishment and a commitment to social justice in their work. The analysis identified three themes related to the competing pressures these academics described in their day-to-day lives: funding, challenges, and the fast professor. Participants spoke about their research funding achievements and struggles. In some cases, they explained how their positioning, including gender and race, might have affected their research production, compared to colleagues positioned differently. Their social justice research is funded, but some suspect at a lower level than colleagues studying conventional topics. Challenges might be located in the backstage (personal and home lives) or the frontstage (university or funding agency policies or embedded in the research itself). In aiming for the impossible standards of a continuously successful research record, these individuals worked âall the time.â Advocates claim that slow scholarship is not really about going slower but rather about maintaining quality and caring in oneâs work; yet, participantsâ accounts suggest they perceive few options other than to perform as âfast professors.â At mid-career, they question whether and how they can keep up this aspect of their figured worlds for 20 or more years.Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada;
Office of the Associate Dean, Research, International & Innovation, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toront
Dear SSHRC, What Do You Want? An Epistolary Narrative of Expertise, Identity, and Time in Grant Writing
The current research climate has heightened expectations for social science researchers to secure research grant funding at the same time that such funding appears to be more competitive than ever. As a result, researchers experience anxiety, confusion, loss of confidence, second guessing, and a lack of trust in the system and themselves. This autoethnographic study provides an insider perspective on the intellectual, emotional, and physical experience of grant writing. A team of scholars document the production of a research grant for their major national funding agency, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. The story is presented through epistolary narrative in the form of a series of unsent letters addressed to the funding agency. The letters foreground themes of expertise, identity, and time as they were shaped through the grant-writing process. The analysis draws attention to unnecessary complexities and challenges that could and should be eliminated from granting processes if the intention is to foster quality research and strengthen research capacity. Implications may prove instructive for other grant applicants, resource personnel employed to support applicants, and potential funders.This work was funded in part by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (435-2017-0104)
Reelin and CXCL12 regulate distinct migratory behaviors during the development of the dopaminergic system
The proper functioning of the dopaminergic system requires the coordinated formation of projections extending from dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra (SN), ventral tegmental area (VTA) and retrorubral field to a wide array of forebrain targets including the striatum, nucleus accumbens and prefrontal cortex. The mechanisms controlling the assembly of these distinct dopaminergic cell clusters are not well understood. Here, we have investigated in detail the migratory behavior of dopaminergic neurons giving rise to either the SN or the medial VTA using genetic inducible fate mapping, ultramicroscopy, time-lapse imaging, slice culture and analysis of mouse mutants. We demonstrate that neurons destined for the SN migrate first radially and then tangentially, whereas neurons destined for the medial VTA undergo primarily radial migration. We show that tangentially migrating dopaminergic neurons express the components of the reelin signaling pathway, whereas dopaminergic neurons in their initial, radial migration phase express CXC chemokine receptor 4 (CXCR4), the receptor for the chemokine CXC motif ligand 12 (CXCL12). Perturbation of reelin signaling interferes with the speed and orientation of tangentially, but not radially, migrating dopaminergic neurons and results in severe defects in the formation of the SN. By contrast, CXCR4/CXCL12 signaling modulates the initial migration of dopaminergic neurons. With this study, we provide the first molecular and functional characterization of the distinct migratory pathways taken by dopaminergic neurons destined for SN and VTA, and uncover mechanisms that regulate different migratory behaviors of dopaminergic neurons
Oregon Families Who Left Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) or Food Stamps: In-Depth Interview Themes and Family Profiles (Vol. 2)
232 pagesThe success and limitations of Oregonâs welfare reform policies are best measured
by an examination of the effects of these policies on the economic status and well-being of
families whose lives have been most directly affected by those policies. Ironically, the
voices of poor people themselves are often neglected in public debates about welfare
policy. This report, a companion to Oregon Families Leaving Temporary Assistance to
Needy Families (TANF) and Food Stamps: A Study of Economic and Family Well-Being
From 1998 to 2000, consists of profiles of seventy-eight families who participated in both
telephone surveys and in-person interviews, following them for almost two years after they
left or were diverted from Food Stamps or TANF in the first quarter of 1998. Their lives
are vivid portraits of families who have to live on incomes that position most of them in or
near the bottom quintile (one-fifth) of the economy.
The experiences of most of these families do not confirm the stereotypes so often
used to characterize the poor. Nor do they speak in one voice about work, family, public
assistance, Adult and Family Service programs or the juggling act of daily life. However,
they were loud and clear about one point: the vital importance of public assistance
programs for their economic survival and family well-being.This project was funded by a contract from Adult and Family Services to the Center for
the Study of Women in Society (CSWS) at the University of Oregon. Additional funding
was provided by the CSWS Women in the Northwest Research Initiative. AFS staff Sue
Smit, Ron Taylor, Elizabeth Lopez and Don Main collaborated with the CSWS Research
Team on the formulation of research questions, design of the telephone survey and
overall project design. They also did extensive work with the administrative data
The Psychotropic Education and Knowledge test for nurses in nursing homes: striving for PEAK performance
Objectives: The psychotropic education and knowledge test for nurses in acute geriatric care (PEAK-AC) measures knowledge of psychotropic indications, doses and adverse drug reactions in older inpatients. Given the low internal consistency and poor discrimination of certain items, this study aims to adapt the PEAK-AC, validate it in the nursing home setting and identify factors related to nursesâ knowledge of psychotropics.
Method: This study included nurses and nurse assistants employed by nursing homes (n = 13) and nursing students at educational institutions (n = 5) in Belgium. A Delphi technique was used to establish content validity, the known groups technique for construct validity (n respondents = 550) and the test-retest procedure for reliability (n respondents = 42). Internal consistency and item analysis were determined.
Results: The psychotropic education and knowledge test for nurses in nursing homes (PEAK-NH) (n items = 19) demonstrated reliability (k = 0.641) and internal consistency (Cronbachâs alpha = 0.773). Significant differences between group median scores were observed by function (p < 0.001), gender (p = 0.019), educational background (p < 0.001), work experience (p = 0.008) and continuing education (p < 0.001) for depression, delirium and pharmacotherapy topics. Items were acceptably difficult (n items = 15) and well-functioning discriminators (n items = 17). Median PEAK-NH score was 9/19 points (interquartile range 6-11 points). Respondentsâ own estimated knowledge was related to their PEAK-NH performance (p < 0.001).
Conclusion: The PEAK-NH is a valid and reliable instrument to measure nursesâ knowledge of psychotropics. These results suggest that nurses have limited knowledge of psychotropic use in nursing homes and are aware of their knowledge deficits. The PEAK-NH enables educational initiatives to be targeted and their impact on nursesâ knowledge to be tracked
Oregon Families Who Left Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) or Food Stamps: A Study of Economic and Family Well-Being From 1998 to 2000 (Vol. 1)
122 pagesWhat happens to families that leave or are diverted from cash assistance or Food Stamps in
Oregon? Dramatic reductions in public assistance caseloads after welfare reform have raised
public concern about poor families. Our study indicates that the effects of welfare -to-work
policies are neither simple nor uniform. The experiences of families suggest that it is unwise to
paint a picture of welfare reform without attending to the diversity of familiesâ experiences and
needs.
Two years after leaving or being diverted from Temporary Assistance to Needy Families
(TANF) or Food Stamps, a substantial proportion of respondents are employed. However, their
earnings are low and families struggle mightily to make ends meet. Our sample was nearly evenly
divided between those with household incomes above and below the federal poverty level. Safety
net programs such as Food Stamps, the Oregon Health Plan, housing and child-care assistance
and federal and state earned income tax credits are critical for family well-being. These essential
resources often disappear before a familyâs need for them diminis hes because of income eligibility
limits and unaffordable co-payments associated with the programs. Non-employed respondents
often live in communities without sufficient good jobs, have chronic health problems or they need
job training or education. The state of Oregon, and these families, would be well served by
intensified efforts to reduce poverty, sustain and improve safety net programs and foster more
living wage jobs across the state.This project was funded by a contract from Adult and Family Services to the Center for the Study
of Women in Society at the University of Oregon. Additional funding was provided by the CSWS
Women in the Northwest Research Initiative. AFS staff Sue Smit, Ron Taylor, Elizabeth Lopez
and Don Main collaborated with the CSWS Welfare Research Team on the formulation of
research questions, design of the telephone survey and overall project design. They also did
extensive work with the Administrative Record Data
Feeling gender speak: intersubjectivity and fieldwork practice with women who prostitute in Lima, Peru
This article discusses a dimension of fieldwork methodology often overlooked. It concerns the act of feeling (inferences) and how this subjective ability contributes to understanding cultural meanings, which are unspoken or encoded in dialogue, but remain unarticulated. The discovery of this dimension in fieldwork eventually brought several epistemological principles into question pertaining to power and intersubjectivity subscribed to in a feminist or critical anthropology. Simultaneously, the use of this dimension in fieldwork gave insight into the relational construction of gender identity - the authorâs own, that of the women and a male assistant. The article illustrates this by reconstructing different ethnographic moments during fieldwork practice. Moreover, it aims to put these theoretical assertions into practice by presenting an ethnographic narrative intended to evoke meanings that contribute to feeling the construction of identity through interaction in fieldwork practice
Temporal correlations among demographic parameters are ubiquitous but highly variable across species
Temporal correlations among demographic parameters can strongly influence
population dynamics. Our empirical knowledge, however, is very limited regarding
the direction and the magnitude of these correlations and how they vary among
demographic parameters and speciesâ life histories. Here, we use long-term
demographic data from 15 bird and mammal species with contrasting pace of life
to quantify correlation patterns among five key demographic parameters: juvenile and adult survival, reproductive probability, reproductive success and productivity.
Correlations among demographic parameters were ubiquitous, more frequently
positive than negative, but strongly differed across species. Correlations did not
markedly change along the slow-fast continuum of life histories, suggesting that
they were more strongly driven by ecological than evolutionary factors. As positive
temporal demographic correlations decrease the mean of the long-run population
growth rate, the common practice of ignoring temporal correlations in population
models could lead to the underestimation of extinction risks in most species
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