Spring 2022

If we want all students to succeed, we must design learning environments that support all students.  Developing the ability and awareness for creating inclusive and equitable learning environments takes time, effort, reflection and openness to learning outside of your comfort zone.  To support student success, all courses should be designed and taught with equity and inclusion in mind.  

At the University level, students enter STEM undergraduate majors at roughly equal rates regardless of racial identity; however Black and Latinx students leave the major at nearly twice the rate of white students, transferring majors and leaving school (Riegle-Crumb et al, 2019).  The underrepresentation of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color with bachelor's degrees in STEM  continues in the workforce where these populations remain underrepresented across STEM fields (NSF).  So while students enter undergraduate studies with desires to study in STEM fields, many are not staying and succeeding, leading to a STEM workforce that is not as diverse as the population it represents. In addition to the unethical inequity, that lack of diversity hurts progress in STEM fields, as more diverse participation has been shown to enhance the innovative capacity of the STEM endeavors. (NSB 2020).

Equity-Focused Teaching

Equitable and inclusive teaching involves creating learning environments where students have equal access to learning, feel their contributions are equally heard, valued and respected, and all students are supported in ways that enable their learning and success.   When designing learning environments that support success for all students, you need to consider the design of your course and how you are teaching, and assessing student learning. Course design includes elements such as the content taught, examples highlighted, materials used, course policies established, and assessments designed.  Pedagogical considerations might include things such as how you create classroom climate, facilitate discussions, promote active and cooperative learning, and ask for, receive and act upon student formative feedback.

Self Reflection

In addition to course design and pedagogical considerations, learning to teach equitably and inclusively requires initial and ongoing self-reflection. You will be able to better identify and respond to needed changes to your course composition, structure, and teaching approaches if you take time to self-reflect on your own identity, socialization and world view.  Self-reflection helps reveal implicit biases in your choices such as assumptions you make about prior knowledge, learning or discussion style, cultural references, educational goals, familiarity with norms of university learning, impact of language or content, or effectiveness of assessment techniques.  Reflecting on the identity of your students helps you create effective educational experiences and supportive interpersonal interactions and relationships with your students-all factors known to enhance retention and success among underrepresented students. Combined with a growing understanding how STEM fields have historically oppressed minoritized and marginalized students and the experiences of these students in STEM courses, self-reflection will build your perspective and importantly, your empathy.

Systems Understanding

In addition to individual changes you can make as an instructor, it is important to understand that inequities and racism exist within the context of a larger societal structure.  We all live and work in systems that differentially advantage and disadvantage certain individuals, depending on their social and cultural identities.  Teaching equitably means reflecting on the systems we teach in, considering how policies, norms, rules, expectations, and communications may support students differently and seeing what we can do to interrupt structural inequities.

Riegle-Crumb, Catherine, Barbara King, and Yasmiyn Irizarry. "Does STEM stand out? Examining racial/ethnic gaps in persistence across postsecondary fields." Educational Researcher 48, no. 3 (2019): 133-144.

 The STEM Labor Force of Today: Scientists, Engineers, and Skilled Technical Workers, https://ncses.nsf.gov/pubs/nsb20212

National Science Board (NSB), National Science Foundation. 2020. Vision 2030. Alexandria, VA. Available at https://www.nsf.gov/nsb/publications/2020/nsb202015.pdf.