Individual Justice, Collective Justice, and Attitudes towards Multiculturalism

Le multiculturalisme est une théorie politique controversée de gestion de la diversité culturelle. Certains auteurs suggèrent que ses principes et politiques risquent de ségréger, d’essentialiser, ou de favoriser les minorités, mettant ainsi en cause des principes dominants de liberté et de responsabilité individuelles. D’autres au contraire indiquent que le multiculturalisme complète de tels principes de justice individuelle. L’objectif de la présente thèse est de combiner des notions provenant des domaines de relations intergroupes, de justice sociale, et de philosophie politique pour parvenir au cœur d’un débat important sur le multiculturalisme : le degré auquel son accent sur les groupes sociaux est compatible ou non avec la valorisation normative des individus dans les pays occidentaux libéraux. Huit études sont présentées, à travers quatre chapitres empiriques et un chapitre théorique, pour examiner comment les individus, en tant que membres de groupes, conceptualisent la justice en lien avec le multiculturalisme. Les chapitres sont organisés autour de trois questions de recherche principales, à savoir comment les conceptions de justices et les attitudes envers le multiculturalisme sont façonnées par (1) la position de l’individu dans la hiérarchie sociale, (2) l’identification nationale, et (3) le contexte national. Des données corrélationnelles, expérimentales et secondaires d’enquête sont utilisées. En analysant différents contextes (libéraux) suisses et européens, les huit études, dans leur ensemble, montrent que l’appartenance aux groupes nationaux dominants façonne la sensibilité pour les principes répandus de la justice individuelle au détriment des principes de justice collective (de multiculturalisme). Elles montrent également que l’appartenance aux groupes subordonnés est associée à une plus grande compatibilité perçue entre justices individuelle et collective. Ce résultat général soutient « l’hypothèse de la compatibilité asymétrique ». Les implications théoriques sont discutées au même titre que les implications pratiques d’observer les attitudes multiculturelles du point de vue des conceptions de justice

Assessment of Practice-Focused Middle School Science Modules

AMP-IT-UP is an NSF-funded K-12 program intended to promote math, science, and engineering learning through STEM integration-focused curricula. As part of this program, one-week modules were designed to teach specific science practices within the context of the appropriate grade-level content. Nine science modules were created, one focused on each practice (practices are data visualization, experimental design, and data-driven decision making) at grade levels 6, 7, and 8. In this presentation, we will focus on our assessment of the implementation of these modules across four middle schools during the 2016-2017 academic year. We will present our methodology for assessing this complex instructional effort, which includes classroom observations, online implementation surveys, and online teacher discussions about their experiences implementing the modules. We will also provide results from our pre-post assessments of student learning. Overall, the results indicate positive teacher experiences as well as significant increases in student learning in some modules

Dilepton production at NLO and intermediate invariant-mass observables

The thermal QCD dilepton production rate is calculated at next-to-leading order in the strong coupling and at finite baryon chemical potential. The two-loop virtual photon self-energy is evaluated using finite temperature field theory and combined consistently with the self-energy in the Landau-Pomeranchuk-Migdal regime. We present new results for a dense baryonic plasma. The rates are then integrated using (3+1)-dimensional fluid-dynamical simulations calibrated to reproduce hadronic experimental results obtained at RHIC at energies ranging from those of the Beam Energy Scan to $\sqrt{s_{_{\rm NN}}} = 200$ GeV. We elaborate on the ability for dileptons to relay information about the plasma baryonic content and temperature.Comment: 19 pages, 15 figure

Implementing NGSS Engineering Disciplinary Core Ideas in Middle School Science Classrooms: Results from the Field

With the inclusion of engineering disciplinary core ideas (DCIs), the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) position engineering as a new priority in K–12 science classrooms. This paper reports findings from the implementation of SLIDER, a problem-based learning 8th grade physical science curriculum that integrates engineering and physical science core ideas. As a culminating engineering design challenge, the SLIDER curriculum asks students to apply their understanding of energy, motion, and forces to design an automatic braking system for a robotic truck. The paper describes the curriculum and synthesizes findings from an array of data sources including student design interviews, written design recommendations, engineering notebooks, pre- and post-assessments, and teacher interviews to address two research questions: (1) To what extent and in what ways do students participating in the SLIDER curriculum engage in NGSS engineering DCIs: defining problems, developing solutions, and optimizing solutions? (2) To what extent and in what ways do students draw upon their understanding of science concepts as they engage in engineering design? Findings indicate variations in the degree to which students participating in the SLIDER curriculum engaged across the three NGSS engineering DCIs, with students generally demonstrating competency with regard to identifying and delimiting the engineering problem (ETS1.A) and, to varying degrees, developing solutions (ETS1.B) but experiencing more challenges engaging in the optimization of design solutions (ETS1.C). Findings also illustrate the degree to which students were able to apply their knowledge of relevant physical science core ideas (e.g., friction, force) as they developed and communicated their solutions. Implications of the findings for instruction, curriculum development, and assessment are discussed

Virtual Photons Shed Light on the Early Temperature of Dense QCD Matter

Dileptons produced during heavy-ion collisions represent a unique probe of the QCD phase diagram, and convey information about the state of the strongly interacting system at the moment their preceding off-shell photon is created. In this study, we compute thermal dilepton yields from Au+Au collisions performed at different beam energies, employing a (3+1)-dimensional dynamic framework combined with emission rates accurate at next-to-leading order in perturbation theory and which include baryon chemical potential dependencies. By comparing the effective temperature extracted from the thermal dilepton invariant mass spectrum with the average temperature of the fluid, we offer a robust quantitative validation of dileptons as effective probe of the early quark-gluon plasma stage.Comment: 6+2 pages, 4+2 figure