Effect of culture on women physicists\u27 career choice: A comparison of Muslim majority countries and the West

Women continue to be underrepresented in physics in the United States. This is while many Muslim majority (MM) countries have a high representation of women in undergraduate and graduate physics programs. While there is a growing awareness of this trend, little is being done to understand why and how this trend has manifested and how it can be used to inform broadening the participation of women in physics in the U.S. To better understand how cultural experiences can influence the pursuit of physics, this study examines the lived experiences of female physics faculty members in the U.S. who came from MM countries. The study draws on seven phenomenological interviews focusing on how cultural experiences shaped participants\u27 gender and physics identities. The results reveal several possible hypotheses on differences and similarities in how physics and gender identities intersect in MM countries as opposed to what has been found in the West. In particular, expressions of femininity in MM countries can have a more constructive intersection with expressions of physics identity in ways that promote participation and persistence

Impact of out-of-class science and engineering activities on physics identity and career intentions

The number of physics bachelor’s degrees that are awarded in the United States annually is small compared to most other science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields, and only about one-fifth of these degrees are awarded to women. Understanding the influence of students’ science and engineering experiences on career choices is critical in order to improve future efforts to increase the number of physics majors and the participation of women. In this work, we use a physics identity framework to examine the impact of out-of-class science and engineering activities on three identity dimensions and the relationship between these dimensions and physics career choice. Through structural equation modeling of survey data from 5541 college students, we find that out-of-class science and engineering activities have the largest influence on physics performance/competence beliefs, but the association of performance/competence beliefs to overall physics identity and physics career choice is primarily mediated through recognition beliefs and physics interests. Furthermore, out-of-class science and engineering activities have a larger effect on recognition beliefs for men than for women, which is a challenging finding in light of the fact that recognition beliefs are the most influential identity dimension for women. The results of this work begin to highlight the need for out-of-class science and engineering activities that focus on not only enhancing students’ performance/competence beliefs but also students’ interests, particularly those students not previously interested, and women’s recognition beliefs with respect to physics

Identity, critical agency, and engineering majors: An affective model for predicting engineering as a career choice.

Prior to college, many students do not have experience with engineering, but some ultimately choose an engineering career. Additionally, women choose engineering at lower rates than men, which results in women’s underrepresentation. The framework of critical engineering agency (CEA) is utilized to understand student attitudes and beliefs for choosing engineering. We investigate the relationships among students’ math and physics identities in high school that predict choice of engineering careers; how students’ beliefs about science and technology predict a choice of engineering careers; whether these beliefs are different by gender; and how well CEA explains students’ engineering choice. The data were drawn from the nationally representative Sustainability and Gender in Engineering (SaGE) survey distributed during Fall 2011 (n = 6,772). Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to understand students’ affective beliefs for predicting engineering choice in college. Multiple subject-related identities compose engineering students’ identity at the beginning of college. Recognition from others and interest in a subject are important predictors of developing an identity. Students’ performance/competence alone are not significant predictors of engineering, but are mediated by interest and recognition from others. Student identities and agency beliefs are significant predictors of engineering choice (explaining 20.2% of the variance). Gender differences were found for students’ math and physics identities and agency beliefs. Students’ self-beliefs account for approximately one-fifth of the variance in engineering choice in the transition from high school to college. Steps can be taken to improve students’ affective beliefs in early engineering experiences through addressing identity and agency beliefs

Instructional Experiences that Align with Conceptual Understanding in the Transition from High School Mathematics to College Calculus

Using data from the first National study on high school preparation for college calculus success, the Factors Influencing College Success in Mathematics (FICSMath) project, this article connects student high school instructional experiences to college calculus performance. The findings reported here reveal that students were better prepared for college calculus success by high school instructional experiences that emphasized mathematical definitions, vocabulary, reasoning, functions, and hands-on activities. These findings serve to inform high school mathematics teachers about promising instructional practices. They can also inform teacher education programs about how to better prepare secondary mathematics educators to discuss conceptual understanding on the widely used Educative Teacher Performance Assessment (edTPA)

Twin in compared with singleton pregnancies complicated by Preterm premature rupture of membranes (PPROM)

Background: Our purpose was to compare the latency periods of preterm premature rupture of the membranes (PPROM) in twin compared with singleton pregnancies from 24 to 34 weeks' gestation and assessment of respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) between twins and singletons. Materials and Methods: Between 2010 and 2014 in Mahdieh Hospital, Tehran, Iran, data on all women with singleton and twin gestations complicated by PPROM were reviewed. Latencies between singleton and twin pregnancies were compared. An additional comparing according to PPROM at under, equal and above 30 weeks' gestation was surveyed in these groups. In addition, their latencies compared among them. Use of surfactant consumption and need for intubation were measured during hospitalization between twins and singletons. Results: The mean latencies of singleton and twin pregnancies were statistically significant without comparing the gestational age at PPROM (8.22±7.4 vs. 5.54±3.36 days, p=0.001). When PPROM occurred at < 30 weeks' gestation, latency in twins was not statistically significant (8.24±9.81 vs. 8.24±4.71 days, p=0.07) but at > or = 30 weeks' gestation, latency was significantly different in singleton and twin pregnancies (6.3±5.85 vs. 2.42±2.60 days, p=0.002). There were significant differences in the use of surfactant and intubation between twin and singletons (p<0.05). Conclusion: This study provides the basis for effective patient counseling and managing pregnancies with PPROM. Overall, in pregnancies with PPROM at > or = 30 weeks' gestation, latency in twins was significantly shorter than in singleton pregnancies. For fetal lung maturity, the use of surfactant and intubation increased in twins compared with singletons

Linc00513 sponges miR-7 to modulate TGF-β signaling in azoospermia

Azoospermia, or the complete absence of sperm in the ejaculate, affects about 1% of men worldwide and is a significant fertility challenge. This study investigates Linc00513, a long non-coding RNA, and its potential role in regulating the TGF-β signaling pathway, a key player in spermatogenesis, in the context of azoospermia. We show that Linc00513 expression is significantly lower in testicular tissues from azoospermic patients than in HS1 controls. Linc00513 interacts directly with microRNA-7 (miR-7) via complementary base pairing, acting as a competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA). This interaction effectively inhibits miR-7's inhibitory action on the TGF-β receptor 1 (TGFBR1), a critical component of the TGF-β signaling cascade. Downregulating Linc00513 reduces TGFBR1 repression and increases TGF-β signaling in azoospermic testes. Functional assays with spermatogonial cell lines support these findings. Silencing Linc00513 leads to increased cell proliferation and decreased apoptosis, similar to TGF-β inhibition. Overexpression of miR-7 inhibits the effects of Linc00513 on TGF-β signaling. Our study sheds new light on how Linc00513, miR-7, and the TGF-β signaling pathway interact in azoospermia. Linc00513 regulates TGFBR1 expression and thus influences spermatogonial cell fate by acting as a miR-7 ceRNA. These findings identify a potential therapeutic target for azoospermia treatment, paving the way for future research into restoring fertility in affected individuals

Effect of culture on women physicists’ career choice: A comparison of Muslim majority countries and the West

Women continue to be underrepresented in physics in the United States. This is while many Muslim majority (MM) countries have a high representation of women in undergraduate and graduate physics programs. While there is a growing awareness of this trend, little is being done to understand why and how this trend has manifested and how it can be used to inform broadening the participation of women in physics in the U.S. To better understand how cultural experiences can influence the pursuit of physics, this study examines the lived experiences of female physics faculty members in the U.S. who came from MM countries. The study draws on seven phenomenological interviews focusing on how cultural experiences shaped participants’ gender and physics identities. The results reveal several possible hypotheses on differences and similarities in how physics and gender identities intersect in MM countries as opposed to what has been found in the West. In particular, expressions of femininity in MM countries can have a more constructive intersection with expressions of physics identity in ways that promote participation and persistence

Student evaluations of physics teachers: On the stability and persistence of gender bias

[This paper is part of the Focused Collection on Gender in Physics.] There is a long history of research which confounds the simple interpretation that evaluations in an educational context are purely measures of competency. One such issue is that of gender bias in student evaluations of their teachers. In our prior work, we found that male students underrated female high school teachers in biology and chemistry while all students underrated female high school teachers in physics. In the current work, we independently checked and extended this earlier work to examine the effect of physics identity on student evaluations and gender bias. Employing multiple regression on survey data from a representative sample of 6772 college students across the U.S., attending both 2-year and 4-year post-secondary institutions (including STEM and non-STEM majors), we find the core physics effect is unchanged despite a gap between studies of nearly 10 years. Namely, both male and female students underrate their female high school physics teachers, even after controlling for physics grades and classroom experiences. Our new focus on physics identity reveals that students with a strong physics identity show a larger gender bias in favor of male teachers than those with less of a physics identity. These results may help to explain how structures that privilege certain groups and marginalize others are prevalent amongst the youngest members of a defined physics community and may serve to uphold the status quo as these young members traverse to higher levels of physics community membership. Furthermore, biased evaluative feedback structures may be one of the propagators of women’s lower competency beliefs in physics, a result that has been found by many prior studies

Promoting high school students’ physics identity through explicit and implicit recognition

This study is focused on student recognition beliefs as related to a role identity development. More specifically, using the theoretical framework of physics identity and emotional scaffolding, we investigate the impact of two types of recognizing strategies, i.e., explicit (ER) and implicit recognizing (IR), on high school students’ sense of recognition and physics identity. ER is teachers directly conveying their acknowledgment of students’ qualities or abilities, such as acknowledging good work and expressing faith in student ability, and IR is teachers indirectly acknowledging students’ qualities or abilities via assigning them a position or a task that demands those qualities or abilities, such as valuing student opinions and assigning a challenging task. Through six longitudinal surveys for one year, we trace the physics identity development of 134 students from three high school physics classes as well as aspects related to physics identity construction including interest, competence beliefs, and sense of recognition. The patterns suggest that the recognizing strategies used by the teachers relate to a positive shift in students’ sense of recognition, which in turn facilitates the development of a physics identity. The postinterviews with six students from the three classes reveal possible mechanisms by which ER and IR strategies are internalized by students. Our findings indicate that the synergy with ER and IR strategies used as well as the nature of the activities (i.e., attainable success) are critical features of effective teacher recognition that can be internalized by the student

Discussing underrepresentation as a means to facilitating female students’ physics identity development

Despite the fact that approximately half of high school physics students are female, only 21% of physics bachelor’s degrees are awarded to women. In a previous study, drawn from a national survey of college students in introductory English courses, five factors commonly proposed to positively impact female students’ choice of a physical science career were tested using multivariate matching methods. The only factor found to have a positive effect was the explicit discussion of the underrepresentation of women in physics. In order to explore this further, a case study of the classes of one teacher reported to discuss the underrepresentation of women was conducted. Two classroom underrepresentation discussions were recorded, students and teacher were interviewed, and relevant student work was collected. Analyzing the case study data using a figured worlds framework, we found that discussing the underrepresentation of women in science explicitly creates an opportunity for students’ figured worlds of professional and school science to change, and facilitates challenging their own implicit assumptions about how the world functions. Subsequently, the norms in students’ figured worlds may change or become less rigid allowing for a new openness to physics identity development amongst female students