Course Identification

The course is designed for first-generation students in higher education as well as other diversity groups.

Science, Identity, and Practical Tools for First-Generation Graduate Students

Instructor: Dr. Meytal Eran-Jona (sociologist, gender expert, Head of Diversity and Inclusion Office at WIS). The course will also host guest lecturers, such as scientists from the Weizmann Institute and experts in communication skill.

Credits: 1 credit
Course meetings: Bi-weekly, 1.5 hours each
Institution: Weizmann Institute of Science

Course Purpose

The course aims to equip Master’s students, particularly those who are first-generation in higher education or come from underrepresented backgrounds, with conceptual, analytical, and practical tools for understanding and navigating the academic environment.
It integrates critical theoretical perspectives on science, culture, identity, and power with practical skill-building in scientific communication, writing, and interpersonal relations, supporting graduate students’ academic success.

Target Population

The course is intended for Master’s students across all faculties (except Science Teaching) who:

• identify as first-generation in higher education (neither parent attended university), or
• come from socially peripheral or minority backgrounds.

Course Schedule (Overview)

1. Introduction: Identity, belonging, and “the Hidden Curriculum”
2. Structures of power and inequality in Higher Education
3. Science as a diverse field: Culture, Intercultural communication, and scientific practice
4. Scientific presentations: principles and practice
5. Asking Better Questions: effective communication in academic contexts
6. Scientific Writing: writing an academic paper
7. Conflict management in the lab/ research group
8. Final integration session

Course Assignments & Evaluation

To support reflective learning and integration of theory with practice, evaluation is based on three components:

1. Short Reflective Assignment - 30%

A 500-600 word reflection submitted after lesson 3.
Students choose one theoretical concept and analyze a real academic situation from their own experience (past, present, or anticipated).
Example: Re-reading the first meeting with an advisor through the lens of hidden curriculum or cultural capital.

2. Final Integrative Assignment – 50%

Students choose one of the following options:

• Option A: Analyze a personal academic experience using 2-3 theoretical texts from the course.
• Option B: Analyze one narrative from the book "Diversifying the Ivory Tower" (Hebrew edition) using course concepts and integrating personal reflection.

3. Attendance – 20%

Active engagement and class participation in a discussion-based learning environment.

By the end of the course, students will be able to:

Theoretical Understanding

• Analyze the academic environment using key sociological concepts such as cultural capital, habitus, intersectionality, imposter syndrome, and the hidden curriculum.
• Develop a reflexive understanding of how identity, culture, and social structures shape scientific knowledge and academic trajectories.
• Critically examine power relations and inequalities within academy.

Applied Skills

• Apply effective strategies for scientific writing, presentation, and communication across cultural contexts.
• Use analytical and interpersonal tools to navigate mentoring relationships, laboratory environments, and academic conflict.

Articulate personal academic experiences through conceptual lenses, strengthening agency and self-efficacy.

A. Power, Cultural capital and the Imposter Syndrome

• Bourdieu, P. (1986). The Forms of Capital.
• Yosso, T. J. (2005). “Whose Culture Has Capital? A Critical Race Theory Discussion of Community Cultural Wealth.”
• Nunn, L. (2021). College Belonging.  searle.northwestern.edu

B. Sociology of Science, Gender, and Intersectionality

• Harding, S. (1991). Whose Science? Whose Knowledge?
• Carlone, H. B., & Johnson, A. (2007). “Science Identity as an Analytic Lens.”

• Crenshaw, K. (various). Intersectionality (a TED Talk). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWP92i7JLlQ

• Latour, B., & Woolgar, S. (1986). Laboratory Life. (*Optional*)

C. Hidden Curriculum and First-Generation Transitions

• Gardner, S. K., & Holley, K. A. (2011). “Those Invisible Barriers Are Real.”
• Gigi, M., Nagar-Ron, S., & Razi, T. (2022). Diversifying the Ivory Tower (Hebrew).
• IGEN / FGI resources on hidden curriculum and graduate transitions. Inclusive Graduate Education Network+1

D. Scientific Writing

• Alley, M. (2013). The Craft of Scientific Presentations. (a book, optional)
• Belcher, W. L. Writing Your Journal Article in Twelve Weeks. (a book, optional)
• Hyland, K. (2005). Metadiscourse: Exploring Interaction in Writing. (optional)

E. Mentoring, Power, and Conflict in Academia

• Hodza, F. (2007). “Managing the Student-Supervisor Relationship…”
• National Academies of Sciences (2020). The Science of Effective Mentorship in STEMM. National Academies Press (*Optional*)