Gender in academic STEM: A focus on men faculty

In this study, we explore how men faculty understand the role of gender in shaping faculty experiences in academic science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) and how they position themselves in relation to inequalities disfavouring women. Our data reveal diversity among men in their understandings regarding challenges facing women in STEM. The majority of our participants revealed gender‐blind perspectives and argued that the egalitarian structure of academia does not allow gender to impact attainments in STEM in any significant way. However, a considerable number of them felt privileged compared to women and described subtle ways in which gender shapes opportunities. Our findings show the important implications of men's sensitivity to gender in the ways they perform their professional roles as, for example, mentors, colleagues and teachers in relation to women in STEM. They further call for attention to men's perceptions of gender issues when designing institutional interventions for improving women's conditions in STEM.     

The missing women in STEM? Assessing gender differentials in the factors associated with transition to first jobs

Women remain underrepresented in the STEM workforce. We assess explanations for women's underrepresentation in STEM jobs, focusing on a cohort that came of age in the 1980s and 1990s, when women dramatically increased their representation in the scientific labor force. Data are from the NLSY79, and our analysis focuses on members of this cohort who received a college degree, with an emphasis on those who completed a degree in a STEM field. Our analyses test the extent to which college major, expectations to work in STEM, and family expectations shaped transitions into STEM occupations within two years of degree completion. Among those majoring in STEM fields there were no gender differences in transitioning into STEM jobs, though there were sizable differences in transitions to STEM employment by field of study. Of note are gender differences in associations between family expectations and transitions into STEM employment. The most career oriented women, who expected to marry late and limit fertility, were no more likely to enter STEM jobs than were women who anticipated marrying young and having two or more children. The men most likely to enter STEM occupations, in contrast, adhered to significantly more conventional gender ideologies than their female counterparts, expecting to marry at younger ages but also to remain childless. Results of our regression decomposition indicated that marriage and family expectations and gender ideology worked in opposite directions for men and women. Nonetheless, the majority of the gender disparity in transitions into STEM jobs was related to women's underrepresentation in engineering and computer science fields of study.     

英美文学素养与高校理科生创新思维培养

以广西桂林高校理工科大学生为样本,对英美文学对学生创新思维培养的实证分析表明:理工科大学生英美文学水平总体不高,创新思维能力呈中等水平;选(必)修英美文学课程不仅能提高学生英美文学素养,也促进了学生创新思维能力的发展;学生英美文学水平与创新思维能力呈中度正相关。因此,理工科院校应倡导学生重视自身英美文学素养的提高,并积极开设英美文学选(必)修课程,努力推进专业学科与人文学科的有机结合,以培养具有全面素质的优秀人才。     

Introductory Statistics Textbooks and the GAISE Recommendations

The six recommendations made by the Guidelines for Assessment and Instruction in Statistics Education (GAISE) committee were first communicated in 2005 and more formally in 2010. In this article, 25 introductory statistics textbooks are examined to assess how well these textbooks have incorporated the three GAISE recommendations most relevant to implementation in textbooks (statistical literacy and thinking; use of real data; stress concepts over procedures). The implementation of another recommendation (using technology) is described but not assessed. In general, most textbooks appear to be adopting the GAISE recommendations reasonably well in both exposition and exercises. The textbooks are particularly adept at using real data, using real data well, and promoting statistical literacy. Textbooks are less adept—but still rated reasonably well, in general—at explaining concepts over procedures and promoting statistical thinking. In contrast, few textbooks have easy-usable glossaries of statistical terms to assist with understanding of statistical language and literacy development. Supplementary materials for this article are available online.     

Racial capitalism and STEM education in Chicago Public Schools

ABSTRACT

This article analyzes the role of STEM initiatives designed by city and corporate elites in a large urban district and outlines an alternative, grassroots vision for (STEM) education and city schools. Within a neoliberal context of gentrification, displacement, disinvestment, and privatization, STEM schools have become strategic components of Chicago’s ‘portfolio district’ that serve the interests of racial capitalism in three ways. First, STEM schools provide a claim to fairness in the midst of racist school closures. Second, STEM high schools are a corporate strategy for racially stratified labor force preparation that restricts curriculum and reifies tracking. Third, curriculum restriction prioritizes corporate interests over students’ capacity to shape their communities and the world. The authors draw on the wisdom of Chicago communities who have led resistance against corporate education reform to critique Chicago STEM policy and point to critical mathematics and science education as part of a model for sustainable community schools.     

知识搜索引擎与翻译

信息化进程的纵深发展对翻译行业产生了深刻的影响,译者如何从海量信息中高效获取信息关系到其翻译服务的质量。因此,译者的信息素养和搜索能力显得愈发重要。通过探讨搜索引擎的补充和延伸——知识搜索引擎,着重论述知识搜索引擎相对于传统搜索引擎,在主题分类、一站式知识检索、互动式知识问答、个性化知识库等方面具备的突出优势,并对比国内三大知识搜索引擎,论述其在翻译实践中的重要启示。     

保险素养、收入差异与农民商业保险参与

乡村振兴战略的实施激发了农民在“医、养、住、行”等方面对美好生活的追求,与之对应的各类保险保障需求也随之涌现。对保险素养影响农民商业保险参与的机理进行了阐释,并使用陕西省565户农户的调查数据,实证检验了保险素养对农民商业保险参与选择的影响,以及农民个人收入差异对保险素养影响其商业保险参与的调节效应。研究表明,保险素养会显著促使农民商业保险参与概率增加3.1%。此外,个人经济收入差异对保险素养促进农民商业保险参与并未发挥出调节作用,即提升个人收入水平并不会增强保险素养对农民商业保险参与的促进作用。因此,有必要采取提高农民保险素养、有针对性地开发设计符合农民诉求的保险产品等措施促进农民商业保险消费,进而促进商业保险在农村地区的发展。     

The Impact of Personal Finance Education Delivered in High School and College Courses

This study investigates the impact of personal finance education delivered in high school and college. Outcomes of interest were investment knowledge and household savings rates measured years after the financial education was delivered. A web-based survey with questions about participation in financial education, financial experiences, income and inheritances, and demographic characteristics was administered to 1,039 alumni from a large midwestern university. Participation in a college level personal finance course was associated with higher levels of investment knowledge. Experience with financial instruments appeared to explain more of the variance in both investment knowledge and savings rates. No significant relationship between taking a high school course and investment knowledge was found. Financial experiences were found to be positively associated with savings rates.

Concept mapping as an approach for expert-guided model building: The example of health literacy

Concept mapping served as the starting point for the aim of capturing the comprehensive structure of the construct of ‘health literacy.’ Ideas about health literacy were generated by 99 experts and resulted in 105 statements that were subsequently organized by 27 experts in an unstructured card sorting. Multidimensional scaling was applied to the sorting data and a two and three-dimensional solution was computed. The three dimensional solution was used in subsequent cluster analysis and resulted in a concept map of nine “clusters”: (1) self-regulation, (2) self-perception, (3) proactive approach to health, (4) basic literacy and numeracy skills, (5) information appraisal, (6) information search, (7) health care system knowledge and acting, (8) communication and cooperation, and (9) beneficial personality traits. Subsequently, this concept map served as a starting point for developing a “qualitative” structural model of health literacy and a questionnaire for the measurement of health literacy. On the basis of questionnaire data, a “quantitative” structural model was created by first applying exploratory factor analyses (EFA) and then cross-validating the model with confirmatory factor analyses (CFA). Concept mapping proved to be a highly valuable tool for the process of model building up to translational research in the “real world”.