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Learning in Transitions: Migrant Women Reflecting on Life Trajectories and Constructing Self-identity
Full text linkThe purpose of this paper is to examine how foreign wives in Korea present themselves in relation to the dominant discourse surrounding them through stories of migration and marriage experiences
Engaging Water Experts: A Qualitative Exploration of Kansas Water Science Communication and Outreach
No full textWater resources are essential yet increasingly vulnerable to overuse. Despite the importance, public understanding of water issues remains limited, often due to communication barriers between scientists and diverse audiences. This study addresses this gap by exploring how water scientists in Kansas communicate their science, perceive water challenges, and collaborate with interdisciplinary teams. Thematic analysis was used to uncover key insights from 21 qualitative interviews. Findings revealed that water experts regularly engage with diverse audiences and collaborate across disciplines; however, most lack formal communication training. Based on these results, it is recommended that organizations partnering with water experts develop training programs to enhance communication skills. These programs should emphasize audience engagement, message clarity, and collaboration to strengthen the public\u27s understanding of water science. Future research should further explore experts’ perception of Kansas water issues and how these interpretations may influence their communication efforts
Prioritizing Play, Universal Design for Learning, and Nature-Based Learning: Professional Development for Educators
No full textThis article provides insight into the process and implementation of a professional development workshop that was created for and provided to educators who were interested in implementing more playful pedagogies in their educational settings. The workshop focused primarily on meeting the needs of all learners through meaningful and engaging practices which focused on playful learning within teaching, incorporating Universal Design principles and the integration of Nature-Based Learning (NBL). Two separate sessions were provided with approximately 20-25 participants in each session. Each workshop was one hour in length and included participants with a variety of teaching roles, including pre-kindergarten teachers, K-2 teachers and coaches, English as a New Language (ENL) teachers, special education (elementary and secondary) teachers, art educators, physical education teachers, speech and language pathologists, in addition to others. The authors recommend that due to the dearth of the intersection of play, UDL, and NBL, educators should continue to purposefully integrate these strategies into professional development opportunities and classroom pedagogy, while also providing additional professional development emphasizing inclusive methods
Influence of Family Stratification on Students’ Enrollment in High School Agriculture Program in Trans Nzoia Sub-County, Kenya
No full textSocial stratification, potentially, influences the selection of subject areas by students and hence their future careers. However, little empirical evidence exists to show this influence. The purpose of the study was to determine the likelihood of parents’ social stratification influencing secondary school students’ enrollment in agriculture. A semi-structured questionnaire was used in data collection, and data were analyzed using correlational design. The population comprised 1174 form three students, from which a sample of 299 was selected through a simple random sampling. Descriptive statistics were used to identify the social classes of the students’ families, while logistic regression was used to determine the probability of parents\u27 social stratification influencing secondary school students’ enrollment in agriculture. This research involved 248 students, 177 boys (71.37%) and 71 girls (28.63%). The results indicated that a significant majority of the students (59%, n = 146) came from middle-class families. Parents’ level of education, home location, and social class combined were significant predictors of enrollment in agriculture subjects, χ2(1) = 8.43, p \u3c .05. The parents’ social stratification elements were likely to influence their decision to choose an agriculture subject. Students from middle-class families were more likely to enroll in agriculture than low- and high-class families. The schools should also encourage students from low- and high-class families to enroll in agriculture. Further research is needed to examine the likelihood of parental income, occupation, and gender to influence students’ enrollment in agriculture
Tracking the Trend: A Content Analysis of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza Messaging on Social Media
No full textHighly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI), also known as Bird Flu, is a type A virus that primarily affects wild birds worldwide and can impact poultry, cattle, and other mammals. While there have been periods of low HPAI exposure reports, there is an ongoing U.S. outbreak as of March 2024 with the first case detected in a dairy herd. As a result, the challenges faced by both human and animal organizations have been depicted in the media. While traditional media sources are important consumer-facing communication methods, the role social media plays in how people receive information is increasing. Especially in a post-pandemic world, social media platforms such as TikTok are powerful tools for providing effective science communication and keeping exposures low during zoonotic disease outbreaks. This study assesses how TikTok was used to communicate during the most recent HPAI outbreak. A combination of qualitative and quantitative content analyses was used to investigate the portrayal of HPAI on TikTok. The analyses used videos posted from February 2023 to July 2024, coinciding with the two HPAI outbreaks that have occurred since March 2022. Results reveal major themes used across TikTok to communicate aspects of HPAI included: Public Health, Disease Detection, Relevant Occupations, Affected Groups, Response, Disease Conditions, Interventions, Wildlife, Communication, Bird Flu, Domesticated Animals, and Agricultural Products. Further research should be conducted on how scientists and practitioners use social media platforms to expand the reach of science communication messages. These efforts help establish a collaborative approach between different stakeholders to develop stronger trust relationships and proactive risk communication strategies
Advertisement: Tulsa Studies in Women\u27s Literature
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Narrative Inquiry of Small-Scale Regenerative Farmers’ Experiences: The Self-Determination Theory Approach
No full textRegenerative agriculture (RA) offers an ecologically grounded and socially conscious alternative to conventional farming, yet the motivational dynamics that sustain small-scale RA farmers remain underexamined. Guided by Self-Determination Theory (SDT), this study used narrative inquiry to provide a nuanced understanding of the lived experiences and psychological needs of 15 small-scale urban RA farmers in Ohio, United States. Findings show that farmers’ engagement in RA is largely driven by intrinsic motivations rooted in community food security and ecological responsibility. The fulfillment of autonomy, competence, and relatedness emerged as central to sustaining long-term commitment to RA practices, though broader structural and policy contexts also shape these needs. The study extends SDT by situating motivation within a relational and ecological framework, challenging its traditionally individualistic orientation. Practically, the results highlight the importance of participatory Extension approaches that empower self-direction, strengthen peer-to-peer and context-specific learning, and build community and institutional support, particularly for low-resource farmers. These insights offer guidance for designing Extension, policy, and outreach programs that cultivate intrinsic motivation for resilient and equitable food systems. Future research should examine cultural and international variations of these processes
Hooking Intermediate-level Students on Literature: Reading La Maison de Claudine with La Maison de Colette
No full textIntermediate-level university students studying a foreign language (FL) often find the jump from language classes to literature too difficult and see reading literary texts as irrelevant to their career goals. The Modern Language Association recommends reconfiguring the two-tiered organization of departments, where instruction in language is separate from “content” courses, by integrating the teaching of literature and language at all levels of FL curricula. An appropriately scaffolded and student-centered approach that makes reading literature accessible and more personally meaningful can hook lower-level students and help retain them in our flagging FL programs. This essay reviews the place of literature in FL pedagogy and describes an intermediate-level French lesson that incorporates best practices for bridging the language-literature divide and personalizing reading. It uses multimedia resources associated with La Maison de Colette—a writer’s house museum—to teach a chapter from Colette’s 1922 autobiographical narrative, La maison de Claudine. Students “virtually” walk in Colette’s footsteps, reflect on their own childhoods, and engage in a “creative personalization” storytelling assignment that uses Colette’s text as a model
Teaching Humor in French Literature in the 21st-Century Classroom
No full textIn this essay I reflect on the anxiety-raising process of constructing and teaching a course on humor in twentieth-century French literature in what seems like an increasingly humorless time, and university. That most faculty today reflect more than ever on diversity, inclusivity, and sensitivity when choosing course materials is certainly a positive and welcome change from an earlier time. However, some of funniest authors in French literary history have also been among the most controversial, still (or perhaps especially) today: Rabelais, Voltaire, Diderot, Flaubert, Céline, Despentes, Houellebecq, to name a few. In choosing texts for this and indeed all my literature courses, I increasingly worry about who a particular work might offend, for good literature is not a non-contact sport. It does not seek first to comfort or confirm but to challenge, contradict, provoke, and sometimes shock. Characters and narrators are not always nice, especially but not only when they are funny. This essay will treat briefly debates about certain currents in contemporary American culture and the university—for example, what critics of them have called cancel culture, safetyism, and wokism—and will ask how such debates may inform the teaching of humor in literature, as well as the use of humor when teaching literature. It contends that the goal of teaching students to detect humor in literature and to accurately analyze its devices, objectives, and targets—and more broadly, to become skilled and perceptive decipherers of the written word—is essential for their development into informed, articulate, and resilient adults and is thus worth the risk of offending