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“What’S Happening in the Gulf of Maine?”: Middle School Students’ Engagement in Climate Science Through Data Visual Representation and Reflections
No full textThis study examined how middle school students engaged with science concepts while working with data visualizations during a field trip learning experience. Fifty-one teams of 2–4 students from 35 schools participating in the LabVenture program were video- and audio-recorded. Students completed two activities: one using a frequency table of marine species illustrating threats to Maine’s lobster population, and another using maps depicting changes in Gulf of Maine sea surface temperature. After each activity, students annotated the visualization, discussed their claims, and recorded short reflections. Transcripts were coded for science-related talk, and annotations and gestures were also analyzed. Findings indicate that annotations, gestures, and peer conversations contributed in complementary ways to STEM discourse. Written annotations specifically supported students’ discussions during planning and reflection. The two activities elicited different forms of reasoning: biological and mathematical with the frequency table, and spatial and climatic with the maps. These results highlight how the representational features of visualizations shape student talk and how engagement behaviors support science learning
Built on Dignity, Backed by Love: A Mixed Methods Study and Curriculum Grounded in Black Caregivers’ Racial Socialization to Cultivate Youth Agency
No full textThis dissertation explores how low-income Black youth and their caregivers experience, interpret, and respond to racial discrimination, with a focus on the development of youths’ dignity as a culturally grounded resilience process. Using a mixed-methods, community-based participatory research (CBPR) design, the study addresses three central aims: (1) to identify the forms of discrimination youth and caregivers encounter and their relationship to racial stress and resilience; (2) to define dignity from the perspectives of youth and caregivers; and (3) to identify caregiver-youth conversations that cultivate dignity and inform the development of the Dignity Development Curriculum (DDC). Data were collected through semi-structured interviews, community forums, and validated quantitative instruments assessing racial identity, attachment, youth school connectedness, and resilience. The sample of 19 youth and 14 caregivers evidenced strong resilience and social connectedness: Quantitative results showed that they had strong resilience, racial identity, self-evaluation of parenting competence, attachment, and school connectedness. The thematic analysis revealed youth and caregivers experienced multiple, intersecting forms of discrimination—including structural, cultural, interpersonal, and internalized racism. The current measurement tools of racial stress inadequately capture the multi-systemic pervasiveness and psychological impacts of racism. Dignity emerged as a core construct, defined by participants as a sense of identity, moral clarity, and internal worth that counters the dehumanizing effects of racism. Racial socialization practices—such as strategic conversations, cultural traditions, and appearance management—played a vital role in developing resilience and affirming identity. The study expands theoretical models including RECAST, Resilience Theory, and Critical Race Theory by introducing dignity as a distinct, developmentally significant coping resource. In addition to contributing to theory, this study contributes a dignity-building curriculum (DDC) that can be applied by parents, school staff, and social service agencies serving youth of color. The resulting DDC offers a structured, culturally responsive intervention to support families in preparing youth to navigate racialized environments with clarity and confidence. The project is also innovative methodologically. According to participants, community forums functioned not only as data validation spaces but also as mechanisms for healing, empowerment, collective meaning-making, and inspiration for future advocacy. Implications for social work, psychology, and education include the need for culturally affirming interventions, clinician training on racial stress and effective interventions to mitigate it, and systemic reforms that address institutional racism. The dissertation affirms the importance of racial socialization, dignity-centered approaches, and participatory research methods in advancing equity and healing for Black youth and their communities
Valuation. A Husserlian Account
No full textHuman life is permeated by values: we do not merely have a world of things and facts, but also objects are good or bad, beautiful or ugly, sacred or profane, useful or useless, etc. This dissertation asks why it is that we ascribe value to the sorts of things that we do. Its approach to studying value is “phenomenological,” meaning that this dissertation homes in on the way in which we experience valuableness in the world to study values themselves. Phenomenology is a movement in philosophy from the early 20th century, founded by Edmund Husserl, whose theory of value I propose. Although Husserl founded the phenomenological movement and many subsequent phenomenologists were inspired by his work, his phenomenology of value was not well known. This dissertation offers a critical restructuring of his theory of value, which sheds novel insights to central questions in value theory. My contention is that Husserl’s contribution to value theory lies in articulating the relationship between valuing subject, value experience, and valued object. Husserl’s first-person phenomenological approach to values challenges many dominant assumptions and theories of the ontology, normativity, and experience of values. I claim that values are primarily a certain sort of object, not qualities; that value experience can under certain circumstances be perceptual but is not per se perceptual; that the normativity of value judgments is traced back to the contents of pre-predicative value intuitions; and that attentive value experience entails affective activity. This dissertation ultimately sheds light on the way in which our affective experience binds us to objects and each other. We can through intuitive feeling and cognition discover a space of reasons for valuing a certain object, a space of reasons bound up between myself and the world
The Ingroup-Outgroup Effect: Effects on Open and Closed-Minded Cognitive Style
No full textPrior research provides evidence of an Ingroup-Outgroup effect on open-mindedness, specifically, that group membership (ingroup or outgroup) influences Situation-Specific Open-Minded Cognition (SOMC), the intention to be open-minded. Researchers have found that group members were more open-minded towards critics of their ingroup when criticism came from ingroup, as opposed to outgroup members, and that this effect was mediated by normative entitlement (SNORM), that is, how open-minded participants feel they “should be”. The present study aimed to extend these findings, examining actual manifestations of open-minded cognition, as opposed to how open-minded participants say they would be. The present study tested whether political party group membership (ingroup versus outgroup) affected how open-minded participants were towards groups criticizing their party ingroup, using open-minded information selection and open-minded information sharing as actual manifestations of open-minded cognition. Participants read criticism of their political party from two groups of voters, Group A and Group B. Group A, whose party was not mentioned, remained constant and served as a standard of comparison. Group B was comprised of voters from the participant’s own party (ingroup condition) or the opposing party (outgroup condition). Then, participants completed the Situation Specific Open-minded cognition scale (SOMCB), which assessed participants’ intention to be open-minded toward Group B. Next, participants had the opportunity to select statements from Group A or Group B about various political topics to read themselves and share with the next participant in the study, which served as manifestations of open-mindedness. It was predicted that participants would be more open-minded towards the critics belonging to the ingroup as opposed to the outgroup, thereby selecting and sharing more statements from Group B when Group B contained ingroup members, and fewer statements from Group B when Group B was comprised of outgroup political party voters. Furthermore, it was expected that the intention to be open-minded (SOMC) would mediate this effect. The results supported the Ingroup-Outgroup effect. Participants who read about the ingroup Group B scored higher on SOMC and selected more Group B statements to read and share than participants who read about the outgroup Group B. Additionally, SOMC mediated the effect of condition on Information Selection and Information Sharing. Furthermore, participant political party moderated the relationship between condition and SOMC, and condition and Information Selection and Information Sharing. In all cases, participants of both parties exhibited an ingroup-outgroup effect, with one party exhibiting a larger ingroup-outgroup effect than the other party. However, the pattern of moderation was not consistent when predicting these three measures. Further research is needed to understand this lack of consistency. Overall, these findings speak to the importance of group membership in U.S. politics. Simply manipulating whether groups are part of the political ingroup or outgroup affects how people respond to them, eliciting open or close-mindedness
Alienation on Campus: Students, Agency, and a \u27Praxis of Possibility\u27
No full textIn the 1950s, 60s, and 70s, the idea of alienation took hold across the United States as a way of explaining feelings of disconnection, powerlessness, and meaninglessness that seemed to be pervading American society. This was no less true on college and university campuses, where students engaged in protest over both government action and inaction and a new youth counterculture took root. What led to alienation’s prominence as a social phenomenon is a matter of some debate, as are the causes of its precipitous decline in the early 70s. However, after an extended silence more recent decades have seen something of a shift, with renewed attention to alienation as a lens for thinking through students’ experience on campus. This, in particular, given accumulating attention to the commodification of higher education and its related degree(s), the portrayal of students as consumers, challenges to the liberal arts as an approach to learning, and what is often described as a transactional approach to education. In the wake of these changes, and facing growing pressures to produce, perform, and attain, many students describe encountering an educational experience that has left them feeling powerless, overwhelmed, and questioning the value of the degree that they seek. This dissertation seeks to address their experience. While it is understood that colleges and universities as institutions have a significant role to play in responding to students who are feeling alienated on campus, equally critical is providing students with a resource of their own towards restoring their sense of agency in relation to learning. Thus, turning to Rahel Jaeggi’s work revitalizing alienation theory, I argue that for students to engage more effectively and meaningfully in education, they need both time and space to slow down and to ask themselves what they seek as concerns the degree that they are pursuing and its related outcomes. In doing so, I engage Jaeggi with critical pedagogues—including, and predominantly, Maxine Greene—asserting that through its attention to transformation and self-realization, as well as its contention that one is formed through one’s engagement with the world as praxis, Jaeggi’s concept of appropriation offers ‘pedagogical possibilities’ for supporting students in their educational journey and in their capacities as agents, learners, and critical thinkers
The Bacterial Sensing Nuclear-Oligomerization Domain 2 Receptor in the Brain: Location and Potential Function
No full textNucleotide-binding oligomerization domain-2 (NOD2) is a cytosolic receptor, activated by bacterial peptides that initiates innate immune responses through nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB), mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK), and Caspase-1 pathways. While the role of NOD2 in inflammation outside the central nervous system (CNS) is well-established, especially in the gastrointestinal system, its expression and function in the brain remain poorly defined. Previous genetic studies suggest a link between NOD2 and neurological and psychiatric conditions, including stroke, Parkinson’s disease, and schizophrenia. However, information regarding NOD2 expression, localization, and function in the CNS is limited. In this work, we investigated NOD2 expression, localization, and regulation across multiple cell types in the cerebral cortex, hippocampus, and striatum of rats. We identified NOD2 expression primarily in neurons, with consistent distribution across these brain regions with RNAscope in situ hybridization (ISH). To further quantify expression, we employed RT-qPCR and western blot, which confirmed NOD2 mRNA and protein expression was consistent between brain regions. Given its established role in inflammation in the gastrointestinal system, we hypothesized that NOD2 contributes to the acute phase of neuroinflammatory processes. We therefore assessed NOD2 expression levels in two rodent models of acute neuroinflammation: traumatic brain injury (TBI) and methamphetamine (METH) administration. In the TBI model, NOD2 expression was acutely upregulated but declined two weeks post-injury, which suggests dynamic temporal regulation. In METH-treated rats, NOD2 expression was increased in the striatum and cortex which further supports its involvement in injury- and drug-induced neuroinflammatory responses. These findings provide evidence that NOD2 is primarily expressed in neurons of the brain and demonstrate that its expression is modulated under neuroinflammatory conditions. Collectively, this work identifies NOD2 as a potential mediator of neuroinflammation and highlights a potential pathway that could represent a target for therapeutic intervention in conditions of acute neuroinflammation
Migrant Domestic Workers as Disposable Kin in Global Capitalism\u27S Care Economy
No full textThis dissertation examines the economic, emotional, and relational harms suffered by migrant domestic workers under global capitalism. These harms are systemic, stemming from labor and migration regimes designed to sustain capital accumulation in the care economy. Affluent regions benefit from the labor of migrant domestic workers at the expense of damage to their fundamental relationships. The result is the erosion of workers\u27 kinship ties, rendering them disposable kin in the eyes of those who profit economically and emotionally from their work. The study is organized into four chapters. The first explores how global care chains are structured through labor and migration regimes that prioritize employers\u27 access to cheap care work. The second demonstrates how undocumented domestic work economically and emotionally sustains households and corporations in wealthy regions. It positions this labor as an underground economy of capitalist accumulation. The third investigates the commodification of affect in domestic work. It shows how the role of migrant nannies as shadow mothers produces profound affective alienation and losses across both workplace and family life. The fourth examines how these harms reinforce racial hierarchies. It argues that global care chains are neocolonial structures that normalize the disposability of workers\u27 constitutive relationships. In summary, this dissertation provides a structural analysis of how the transnational domestic labor market sustains the prosperity of wealthy regions at the cost of eroding the relationships essential to the well-being of people in the global periphery
Intital Characterization of Phosducin-Like Protein 3 in the Malaria Vector Anopheles Stephensi
No full textInvestigating the role of PhLP3 in the fecundity of the malaria vector Anopheles stephensi Phosducin-like proteins (PhLPs) are small thioredoxin domain-containing proteins that are highly conserved in eukaryotes. PhLPs are subdivided into three subclasses, each playing different cellular roles, from modulating G-protein signaling (PhLP1) to regulating the actin and tubulin cytoskeleton (PhLPs2&3). In a collaborative project, we recently discovered that Drosophila flies lacking PhLP3 are sterile. We hypothesize that the same may be true for the malaria-transmitting mosquito, Anopheles stephensi. Here, I present the identification and biochemical characterization of A. stephensi PhLP3 (AsPhLP3). Sequence and structural analysis of AsPhLP3 shows the characteristic organization of the PhLP family with an N-terminal helix domain, a central thioredoxin domain, and a short C-terminal tail domain. I confirmed AsPhLP3 gene expression in the reproductive tissues of Anopheles via RT-qPCR. Then, I cloned, expressed, and purified recombinant AsPhLP3. Initial insulin reduction assays confirm redox activity, as previously demonstrated for Drosophila PhLP3. For the first time, I show tissue-specific protein localization of a PhLP using anti-AsPhLP3-specific antibodies. I demonstrate that PhLP3 is expressed in the reproductive organs of the mosquito, where it appears to co-localize with microtubules. With the goal of generating an A. stephensi line lacking PhLP3, I acquired and generated all of the components for the mosquito-specific CRISPR/Cas9 system called ReMOT. I injected 160 mosquitoes, but I was unsuccessful in detecting editing events in vivo. Anopheles mosquitoes are among the most prominent global disease vectors, transmitting infectious diseases such as Malaria and Dengue Fever. New insights into the function of AsPhLP3 and its potential involvement in mosquito fecundity may open new avenues to combat this critical disease vector