Home, School and the Museum: Shifting Gender Performances and Engagement with Science

Research has highlighted that engagement with science is highly gendered and that the masculinised culture of science makes it difficult for many girls/women to engage. Meanwhile, a growing body of research has explored the potential of out-of-school spaces to provide more equitable engagement opportunities. In this paper, I examine engagement with science among working-class, self-identified ‘girly’ girls aged 11-13. I discuss how gender performances and engagement with science shifted across science lessons, school trips and family trips to science museums. The findings suggest that engagement with science is complex, contradictory and varies across spaces – girls’ performances of hyper-femininity supported engagement with science in some spaces, but made it difficult in others. Different spaces also afforded the girls different opportunities for performing gender, which in some instances opened up new ways for engaging with science. I conclude by discussing the implications for more equitable science education

Biomolecular condensation of the microtubule-associated protein tau.

Cells contain multiple compartments dedicated to the regulation and control of biochemical reactions. Cellular compartments that are not surrounded by membranes can rapidly form and dissolve in response to changes in the cellular environment. The physicochemical processes that underlie the formation of non-membrane-bound compartments in vivo are connected to liquid-liquid phase separation of proteins and nucleic acids in vitro. Recent evidence suggests that the protein tau, which plays an important role in Alzheimer's disease and other neurodegenerative disorders, phase separates in solution, forms tau phases with microtubules, and associates with phase-separated RNA-binding protein granules in cells. Here we review the experimental evidence that supports the ability of tau to phase separate in solution and form biomolecular condensates in cells. As for other disease-relevant proteins, the physiological and pathological functions of tau are tightly connected - through loss of normal function or gain of toxic function - and we therefore discuss how tau phase separation plays a role for both, and with respect to different cellular functions of tau

“I see myself as a STEM person”: Exploring high school students’ self-identification with STEM

In the literature, STEM identity tends to be characterized either as students' relationship with the STEM field “as a whole,” or their relationship with a particular STEM area, such as science. With this study, we add to the existing scholarship by characterizing the profiles of students who identified themselves as “STEM people.” A 52-item questionnaire was administered to 1004 students aged 12–16 from high schools in and around Barcelona, Spain. To profile different groups of students, we performed a hierarchical cluster analysis that included responses relating to participants' interest, competence, self-efficacy, and aspirations to different STEM and non-STEM areas. Our analysis generated six different clusters, which we interpreted as ranging from positive to negative self-identification with STEM. Our particular interest was in the two clusters we interpreted as exhibiting positive STEM identity (C1 and C2). The analysis suggested that there were two different ways of considering oneself as a STEM person. Students who self-identified as STEM people were either more inclined toward technology and engineering (C1) or science (C2), particularly in terms of their aspirations. These two clusters were also strongly gendered, with C1 being dominated by boys and C2 by girls. Although our findings suggest the existence of a conscious “sense of STEM identity,” we suggest that students who self-identified as STEM people may have ascribed different meanings to the STEM based on their preferences. As such, this study questions the suitability of studying STEM identity “as a whole” without also considering how students relate to individual STEM and non-STEM areas

First-passage statistics of colloids on fractals: Theory and experimental realization

In nature and technology, particle dynamics frequently occur in complex environments, for example in restricted geometries or crowded media. These dynamics have often been modeled invoking a fractal structure of the medium although the fractal structure was only indirectly inferred through the dynamics. Moreover, systematic studies have not yet been performed. Here, colloidal particles moving in a laser speckle pattern are used as a model system. In this case, the experimental observations can be reliably traced to the fractal structure of the underlying medium with an adjustable fractal dimension. First-passage time statistics reveal that the particles explore the speckle in a self-similar, fractal manner at least over four decades in time and on length scales up to 20 times the particle radius. The requirements for fractal diffusion to be applicable are laid out, and methods to extract the fractal dimension are established

Microstructural evolution of inconel 625 during thermal aging

Inconel 625 is due to alloying elements prone to precipitation of different intermetallic phases and secondary carbides during thermal aging. The base of investigation is nickel superalloy Inconel 625 in hot rolled state. Thermal aging was conducted at temperature 650 °C with different duration of treatment for each sample. Microstructural analysis was performed by light microscope and scanning electron microscope. The results of microstructure observation showed the precipitation of intermetallic γ››- Ni3Nb phase in the γ matrix and δ-Ni3Nb phase with M23C6 secondary carbides at the grain boundaries

Fun moments or consequential experiences? A model for conceptualising and researching equitable youth outcomes from informal STEM learning

While there are many different frameworks seeking to identify what benefits young people might derive from participation in informal STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) learning (ISL), this paper argues that the sector would benefit from an approach that foregrounds equity and social justice outcomes. We propose a new model for reflecting on equitable youth outcomes from ISL that identifies five key areas: (1) Grounded fun; (2) STEM capital; (3) STEM trajectories; (4) STEM identity work; and (5) Agency+ . The model is applied to empirical data (interviews, observations and youth portfolios) collected over one year in four UK-based ISL settings with 33 young people (aged 11–14), largely from communities that are traditionally under-represented in STEM. Analysis considers the extent to which participating youth experienced equitable outcomes, or not, in relation to the five areas. The paper concludes with a discussion of implications for ISL and how the model might support ongoing efforts to reimagine ISL as vehicle for social justice

Recognising and Valuing Student Engagement in Science Museums

Student engagement with museum content is an integral part of the mission of many institutions, including science museums. Our research utilises a sociological lens to bring a new perspective on engagement in such spaces. Specifically, we draw on qualitative data from student visits to a science museum to explore what engagement might be possible, by whom, and under what circumstances. The students in focus are of underrepresented ethnic and cultural backgrounds in the museum, and do not have high levels of science capital. Our findings reveal that moments of engagement occur when there is alignment between personal habitus and capital – the students’ dispositions and practices – and the field, the museum's conventions and rules, as well as its objects and exhibits. However, this engagement was often with the historical or social aspects of exhibits, rather than the science behind them. We propose this approach to engagement as a useful tool for museum practitioners

Dull Addysgu’r Brifddinas Wyddoniaeth: ymgysylltu myfyrwyr gyda gwyddoniaeth, hyrwyddo cyfiawnder cymdeithasol

Mae rhai myfyrwyr yn cael trafferth gweld gwyddoniaeth fel rhywbeth sy'n berthnasol i'w bywydau ac fel rhywbeth sy'n addas iddyn nhw. Gall hyn wneud eu hymgysylltiad gyda gwyddoniaeth yn anodd. Bydd y pecyn hwn yn cefnogi athrawon i helpu myfyrwyr ganfod mwy o ystyr a pherthnasedd mewn gwyddoniaeth ac, o ganlyniad, i ymgysylltu'n fwy gyda’r pwnc