Shukufe Rahman, a Ph.D. student in science education, has won the Santosh Jain Endowed Memorial Scholarship.

Before starting her Ph.D. journey, Rahman worked with non-profit organizations in countries including Bangladesh, India and China to develop science teaching and learning environments for children, especially underprivileged children.

“As an educator from a South Asian country, I need to investigate the reasons that block the trajectory of quality education in underprivileged communities in developing countries and offer insights to improve their lives. This drives me to pursue my Ph.D. in Science Education,” she said.

Rahman’s current research is titled “A Play-Based Science Educational Intervention for the Children in Refugee Camps.” Based on her experiences in different countries, she intends to develop play-based model science education model or framework for refugee children: “I believe that my research findings will have a valuable impact for the education of the most marginalized children in the world.”

“Working in the humanitarian field and being exposed to some of the world’s most underprivileged societies in emerging economies, I understood educational needs of the underserved communities as well as children,” she added. “I intend to demonstrate great commitment towards representing this group of communities as well as create a meaningful, enjoyable and acceptable science learning environment for underprivileged children through my research.”

With the aid she’ll get from this scholarship, Rahman plans to do a pilot study in the Rohingya Camps located in Bangladesh in summer 2022 to collect critical perspectives on refugee student experiences.