Social Sciences – Page 3 – UROP Spring Symposium 2021

Social Sciences

Nonviolent Resistance in Evereg and Fenesse

Current research on the Armenian Genocide of 1915 (??? ?????) is thorough and comprehensive, but when it addresses Armenian resistance to these crimes, it tends to focus on armed resistance rather than nonviolent resistance. Additionally, research on individual Ottoman Armenian towns and villages is generally cultural in nature, and while this is extremely important, it also tends to overlook the village’s nonviolent resistance to genocide, when present. This results in the belief that provincial Armenians were either passive to the atrocities they faced, or that they could only protect themselves through reactionary violence. This study aims to show that the Armenians the twin towns of Evereg and Fenesse (modern Develi) were able to nonviolently resist their complete erasure from this world through the foundation of the Evereg Mesrobian and Fenesse Roupinian educational societies by using a combination of historical analysis and interviews of the descendants of the survivors of Evereg and Fenesse. An analysis of these texts could show that the curriculum inspired a revolutionary mentality, or that the subjects studied at these educational institutions allowed for the preservation of the cultures of Evereg and Fenesse as its inhabitants (the few who were lucky enough to survive massacre, that is) made their way to Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and eventually the United States. Hopefully, this research will show that the existence of these educational societies aided in the survival of Evereg and Fenesse Armenians themselves. These pre-genocide and post-genocide accounts will show that when armed resistance to ethnic cleansing is not an option, nonviolent resistance through the creation and maintenance of educational institutions and societies can ensure not just the survival of human beings, but also the continuation of their culture.

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How Do Motivations and Identities Effect Racial Dialogue?

Lauren Lott Pronouns: she/her/hers Research Mentor(s): Koji Takahashi, Graduate Student Research Mentor School/College/Department: Psychology, College of Literature, Science, and the Arts Presentation Date: Thursday, April 22, 2021 Session: Session 6 (4pm-4:50pm) Breakout Room: Room 3 Presenter: 6 Event Link Abstract For privacy concerns this abstract cannot be published at this time. Authors: Lauren Lott, Vimukthi

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How Do Motivations and Identities Affect Racial Dialogue?

Vimukthi Rupasinghe Pronouns: He/Him Research Mentor(s): Koji Takahashi, Graduate Student Research Mentor School/College/Department: Psychology, College of Literature, Science, and the Arts Presentation Date: Thursday, April 22, 2021 Session: Session 6 (4pm-4:50pm) Breakout Room: Room 3 Presenter: 6 Event Link Abstract For privacy concerns this abstract cannot be published at this time. Authors: Lauren Lott, Koji

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Mentions of goals and subgoals in different activities of the purpose-first programming curriculum

Over the last few years, more and more students who do not major in computer science or plan to become a programmer take computer science classes. Furthermore, the number of conversational programmers and end-user programmers is growing. Traditional learning and teaching of computer science focuses on how code works, using activities like code tracing. However, some novices have a preference for learning code applications rather than how it works including the syntax and logic behind it. Therefore, they have less motivation to learn with the traditional code tracing way. The Ph.D. student I worked with created a “purpose-first” curriculum for web scraping with an emphasis on goals/plans and subgoals. It was evaluated by conducting think aloud sessions with novice programmers who plan to become conversational programmers or end-user programmers. The interviews were qualitatively coded using thematic analysis. I analyzed the think aloud session transcripts to identify uses of goals and subgoals. We found that participants mainly used goals and subgoals to complete the writing activities, while they didn’t use them as much in debugging and explanation activities. Moreover, some participants mentioned goals and subgoals when they described their thought processes, while others mentioned code, depending on their previous experiences with programming. It turns out that students found purpose-first programming motivating and the students able to solve problems using plans with goals and subgoals.

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Stress and Affiliative Responses in Couples

As described by Taylor and colleagues (2000), the tend and befriend theory suggests that women are more likely than men to show affiliative responses when stressed. For example, women may use affiliative language, such as the word “we”, to create or maintain social connections (Slatcher et al., 2008). However, others expanded on this theory and argued that men may also affiliate when stressed (Geary & Flinn, 2002). In the current study, we will examine whether men and women show different associations between changes in cortisol, a physiological stress marker, and affiliative word use. Previous studies show mixed results: in some studies, men affiliated more than women when their cortisol was higher, in other studies women affiliated more than men (Berger et al, 2016; Sherman et al., 2016). To examine the association between changes in cortisol and affiliation, the current study looks at heterosexual couples performing the fast-friends task (Aron et al., 1997); this closeness-inducing discussion task contains questions that progressively increase in levels of self-disclosure in comparison to a “small-talk” discussion that is designed to elicit less self-disclosure. We will measure participant cortisol levels before and after the discussion task and analyze their language during the discussion to measure affiliative word use. We will also explore differences in affiliative word use in the high and low self-disclosure conditions. We expect to find that both men and women who show cortisol increases will use more affiliative words in the discussion task. We also expect that women and those in the high self-disclosure condition will use more affiliative words in comparison to men and those in the low self-disclosure condition.

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Examining International Baccalaureate Credit Policies in Higher Education

The Advanced Placement (AP) and International Baccalaureate (IB) exams are two of the most prominent tests for college-bound high school students. Higher education institutions often have policies in place to grant college credits for achieving a high score on both of these exams. The topic of my research is to discover how different institutions grant either equivalent, or non-equivalent (general) college credits based on AP and IB test scores. Equivalent credits directly correspond to a specific course and non-equivalent credits do not match the courses at the institution and are used for meeting distribution and/or major requirements. My specific research question is how do Big Ten institutions grant equivalent or non-equivalent credits from IB exams scores in different subject areas and how do these policies differ between institutions? Differences between test subject areas and institutional types are examined and the implications for high school students and how IB credit policies could affect their choice of college attendance are discussed.

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How Technology Discriminates: Education and Outreach Project

Algorithms and Society works to educate young technology users on the associated risks and societal implications of information technology. The project focuses on how bias is embedded in the algorithms behind information technology. To build lesson plans for high school students, I analyzed the Algorithms + Society five-part YouTube video series, designed by researchers on the research team. These videos are short and informational and provided me the premise of each coordinating lesson plan. Based on the Algorithms + Society videos, I did my own research to contextualize and expand on the basic information. The culmination of this work is a set of high school lesson plans to be taught in coordination with the Algorithms + Society Youtube video series. Each lesson contains step-by-step, scripted instructions for teachers, questions for class discussions, and engaging activities for the students. Algorithms and Society explores how algorithmic bias embedded in search engines, social media, smart devices, etc, perpetuates discrimination and bias in our society. In an increasingly digitized world, it is imperative that students understand the risks associated with information technology. Through education, we can raise a generation of technology users and developers who are cognizant of algorithmic bias and actively work against it.

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Party in the Street: Grassroots Protests during (and beyond?) the Presidency of Donald Trump

Many Americans have relied on biased or incomplete news coverage to conclude that grassroots protestors are a monolithic group all motivated by the same ideals. Meanwhile, there has been very little formal research conducted to accurately determine the political and social motivations of grassroots protestors during Donald Trump’s Presidency. This research project conducts, codes, and analyzes surveys filled out by participants from several grassroots protests between 2017 and 2020. Its goal is to get a better understanding of the sentiments of individual grassroots protestors. Through close analysis of completed surveys, the project team has determined that the motivations of grassroots protestors are both varied and complex. Although most grassroots protestors identified themselves as either Democrats or Republicans when asked about their political affiliation, their responses to more specific questions about social identity, values, and interests proved that grassroots protests feature diversity of both identity and thought. This research project serves to challenge common knowledge about grassroots protests that has been skewed by political bias in the United States. It will also assist future researchers studying and further analyzing why individuals felt called to participate in grassroots protests during the Presidency of Donald Trump.

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Party in the Street: Grassroots Protests During the Presidency of Donald Trump

Many Americans have relied on biased or incomplete news coverage to conclude that grassroots protestors are a monolithic group all motivated by the same ideals. Meanwhile, there has been very little formal research conducted to accurately determine the political and social motivations of grassroots protestors during Donald Trump’s Presidency. This research project conducts, codes, and analyzes surveys filled out by participants from several grassroots protests between 2017 and 2020. Its goal is to get a better understanding of the sentiments of individual grassroots protestors. Through close analysis of completed surveys, the project team has determined that the motivations of grassroots protestors are both varied and complex. Although most grassroots protestors identified themselves as either Democrats or Republicans when asked about their political affiliation, their responses to more specific questions about social identity, values, and interests proved that grassroots protests feature diversity of both identity and thought. This research project serves to challenge common knowledge about grassroots protests that has been skewed by political bias in the United States. It will also assist future researchers studying and further analyzing why individuals felt called to participate in grassroots protests during the Presidency of Donald Trump.

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Analyzing how to redesign the University of Michigan website for the higher education of First Generation students

The First-Generation program has grown tremendously within the past few years. One of the key resources is the First Generation website that provides a plethora of information to University of Michigan first-generation students. Ideally, the website is designed for students to build connections and seek support. Our project explores if the website is performing to students’ standards and if the needs of University of Michigan first-generation students are being met. The overall purpose of this project is to improve the performance based on the feedback we get from our participants.

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