Social Sciences – UROP Summer Symposium 2021

Social Sciences

Student Parents in Postsecondary Education: Relevant Policies and Practices

Student parents are a growing percentage of the college student population (Roy et al., 2018). For this group of nontraditional students, resources such as on-campus childcare, lactation spaces, and family housing are pertinent to balancing the demands of parenthood and school. However, recent studies (e.g., Kensinger & Minnick, 2018) have alluded to student parent invisibility in institutional policy and practice. In this study I examined inclusion of student parents in official university statements (i.e., policy), and access to information about, and availability of, student parent resources (i.e., practice). The study addresses three research questions: 1. Do public four-year universities & colleges include student parents in their non-discrimination &/or diversity statements? 2. For students who are parents, how easy is it for prospective and new university students to identify relevant resources? 3. Is the number of relevant resources related to inclusion of student parents in non-discrimination &/or diversity statements?

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Assessing the Affective, Cognitive, and Behavioral Consequences of Men Recognizing Subtle Gender Bias Against Women in STEM

Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) frequently encounter gender bias (e.g., questioning of their STEM ability, assignment to secretarial roles). Given the subtle and ambiguous nature of contemporary sexism, people vary in their likelihood of recognizing subtly sexist interactions. Past research demonstrates that women are more sensitive to gender bias and more likely to perceive it. However, there remains a dearth of research related to men’s experiences in witnessing bias. In the present research, we ask: what are the (1) affective, (2) cognitive, and (3) behavioral consequences of perceiving subtle gender bias during group tasks?

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S.T.E.A.M. Education

Introduced in 2016, STEAM is a new pedagogical approach that has been on the rise in many different countries. STEAM is the abbreviation for science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics. The integration of “Arts” within STEM has shown a significant increase in the motivation of children’s ability to be creative, problem solvers, and critical thinkers. Throughout the process of this literature review my goal was to answer the research question “How do STEAM, in contrast to STEM, approaches develop creativity, critical thinking, and agency among children?” To answer this question I reviewed 40 sources of qualitative and quantitative literature and of those, more than half provided strong support to the view that STEAM is very effective in developing 21st century skills such as creativity, critical thinking and problem solving. According to Hadinugrahaningsiha, “the term 21st-century skills is generally used to refer to certain core competencies such as collaboration, digital literacy, critical thinking, and problem-solving that advocates believe schools need to teach to help students thrive in globalisation world” (Hadinugrahaningsiha, 2017, p.1). STEAM effectiveness is measured by the behaviors of students after the curriculum is implemented. Studies indicate that even children at an early age demonstrated interest and academic growth (Awang, 2020). Considering this pedagogy is fairly new, there remains much ambiguity on the teaching styles, definition of “art”, and how the arts in STEAM will be implemented in lesson plans.

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The Impact of Gain vs. Loss Frames on Decision Making: From Society to the Individual

The framing of mathematically equal outcomes as either a Gain or a Loss shifts decision-making in predictable ways. Prior research has focused on Gain versus Loss frameworks in the context of serious, societal-level decisions impacting whole communities. For example, in a study by Tversky and Kahneman (1981), participants were asked to choose between two social programs to address the outbreak of a serious disease. Program A presented a guaranteed outcome in terms of number of lives saved or lost, whereas Program B could only provide probability information and was thus “riskier.” When both programs were framed in terms of the number of lives saved (Gain condition), participants were significantly more likely to choose the guaranteed outcome. However, when both programs were framed in terms of number of lives lost (Loss condition), decision-making preference shifted toward the riskier program.

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Optimizing a Daily Mindfulness Intervention to Reduce Stress from Discrimination among Sexual and Gender Minorities of Color

This multiphase optimization study evaluate the effectiveness of different components of a mindfulness-based intervention to reduce stress from discrimination among sexual and gender minorities (SGM) of color. Researchers have found that sexual and gender minorities of color are discriminated against based on race and/or sexual orientation status and/or gender.

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Optimizing a Daily Mindfulness Intervention to Reduce Stress from Discrimination among Sexual and Gender Minorities of Color

This multiphase optimization study evaluate the effectiveness of different components of a mindfulness-based intervention to reduce stress from discrimination among sexual and gender minorities of color. Researchers have found that sexual and gender minorities of color are discriminated against based on race and/or sexual orientation status and/or gender.

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The Activist Backgrounds of Congressional Candidates in the United States in 2020

This research seeks to understand the role of protests in the functions and dysfunctions of American democracy, particularly the connection between protest participation and the success of congressional candidates. The key working hypothesis is that social movements are able to use protests as a testing ground for quality candidates and that helps candidates to be more successful in communicating their messages to the public. Thus, candidates who are involved in protests are more likely to be victorious in electoral contests, other things equal, than are other candidates.

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Mental Health in Islamic Texts: Putting an end to the Stigma

Growing up in Dearborn’s largely Muslim community, the idea of mental health was extremely stigmatized and was believed to bring great shame to an individual or family involved in it. When the topic of mental health is brought up, I would often hear people say “as long as I have my religion, I do not feel any emotional or mental challenges” or “anybody who experiences emotional or mental turmoil is being punished by the almighty for not having a strong Iman (faith)” or is simply told that they should pray more. When we analyze original islamic texts though, we find that these diseases should not be treated as punishments for weak iman but as a simple bump in the road. Prophet Muhammad stated in the Sahih Al-Bukhari hadith collection, “There is no disease that Allah has created, except that he also has created its treatment” (Hadith 582). Given that disease is a natural part of life, why is it that people tend to stigmatize mental health? This paper will analyze primary and secondary sources on Islamic mental health. This will allow us to integrate contemporary methods such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and bring about ways to develop a more culturally competent therapy for people within the muslim community struggling with mental health and eliminating the stigma surrounding it.

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Impact of COVID-19 on Latinx Households

COVID-19 has impacted individuals in many different ways. In this project, we focus on how the pandemic has impacted the Latinx community. Oftentimes it is difficult for individuals in Latinx households to follow procedures such as social distancing or staying home as many come from low-income families and need to keep working, thus highly increasing the risk of spreading the virus. These living arrangements are associated with communalist cultural values such as familism. Within this project, the goal is to understand and explore how familism has impacted Latino’s individual beliefs.

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Representations of ‘Sexlessness’ in Japan

Adrian Beyer Pronouns: He/Him/His UROP Fellowship: WAGSFP Research Mentor(s): Anna Wozny, PhD Candidate Research Mentor Institution/Department: College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, Department of Sociology Presentation Date: Wednesday, August 4th Session: Session 2 (4pm-4:50pm EDT) Breakout Room: Room 2 Presenter: 1 Event Link Abstract For privacy concerns this abstract cannot be published at this

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