The opportunity to attend a university online is an attractive option for many students because of the flexibility in scheduling, the lack of commuting, and the ability to work from wherever. This is a particularly enticing option for individuals working full-time in any capacity such as a 9-5 office job or for taking care of children or other family members. So, as universities begin to develop more of these programs, these online programs open access to college degrees for a larger slice of society. However, who is enrolling in these programs, and are there grade differences for different groups of students in online courses? We know that, on average, students from backgrounds that are historically underrepresented in STEM tend to do worse in the classroom compared to their overrepresented counterparts. This group broadly includes BLNP (Black, Latinx, Native American, and Pacific Islander) people, women, people of lower socioeconomic status, and first-generation to college students. ...

We are excited to announce 16 events this term that all focus on racial justice in biology. These events are open to the School of Life Sciences (SOLS) community.  Please join our suite of virtual workshops, seminars, and discussions to learn and become more self-aware of how we can become more inclusive.  The sessions are for faculty, staff, and students – all of the seminars will be recorded and posted on the  RISE Center website  for viewing afterwards.  For a full description of the events, click the links below: SABER events An initiative sponsored by the Society for the Advancement in Biology Education Research (SABER) focused on promoting awareness, understanding, and commitment to change academic biology environments to be more inclusive and strive for racial justice in STEM Education.  RISE Up events An initiative sponsored by ASU’s Research for Inclusive STEM Education (RISE) Center focused on enhancing awareness, understanding, and commitment to...

  Why do I keep seeing people list pronouns on their email signatures? Can I use the word queer? What’s a deadname? As ASU is defined by who we include and how they succeed , we need to make sure that this includes everyone in the classroom, including students with identities that are invisible. Even though society tends to assume that everyone is straight and cis-gender, current estimates of individuals who identify as members of the LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer) community range from 10-20% of the population. Specifically in biology classrooms at ASU, about 9-16% of undergraduates report having an LGBTQ+ identity on surveys. What challenges might a biology classroom present for LGBTQ+ students? Instructors and fellow students may inadvertently make incorrect assumptions that may cause some LGBTQ+ students to feel uncomfortable. For example, individuals may mis-gender transgender students and non-gender binary students in class. This could be done by using a...

Most scientists agree that the theory of evolution is a foundational concept in understanding biology, yet it remains rejected by nearly half of the college student population ( Barnes & Brownell, 2018 ). With religious students making up a large percentage of the student body on college campuses across the United States, it is important to consider how the way we teach evolution may impact religious students as they integrate the scientific view of evolution with their religious beliefs. One influential factor in religious student acceptance lies in the debate of whether you can believe in God and still accept evolution. A new study has shown that the ability of religious students to perceive evolution as agnostic – not being able to say whether there is or isn’t a God- rather than atheistic – saying there is no God- increased their comfort in learning and understanding evolution and also increased their acceptance of evolution. Bridges and barriers to being both religious and ...

Combining the C.R.E.A.T.E .method with an online annotation and discussion tool like Perusall can empower students to confidently participate in conversations and amplify more voices in the classroom. Together they may lead to deeper knowledge building and synthesis among communities of learners. Reading primary research literature is an important skill for understanding the generation and evaluation of ideas in the Life and Social Sciences. Typically as students advance into their upper division coursework, interactions with primary literature outside of curated textbooks become more common. Analysis of these papers can help students understand “who does science, how and why” (Hoskins, Lapatto, and Stevens, 2011) . However, for many students reading primary literature can be intimidating and confusing. Scientific research may seem like a recipe to which some have access and others do not. They may also feel like they are unable to ask questions or criticize the work being done by ...

While racism is very apparent in the world today, many don’t realize how prevalent it is within academia as well. Not only have I experienced this myself, but I have many friends with countless stories of their own. The reality is that I have experienced and witnessed racism and discrimination at almost every single school I have attended. It’s always a matter of exterior judgement. Does that student look professional? Does this student look “college ready?" Does that student look like they could be in higher classes? Throughout my public school experience I was classified as "gifted" and although anyone could technically take the tests to be in these "gifted" programs, the demographic was completely discriminatory. Not only was I literally the only black person, I was one of very few females. Because there was no representation of black people in these types of classes, I felt like an outsider, and was seen this way as well. At a volunteer event outside ...

#SHUTDOWNSTEM Many of you are aware of the #ShutDownSTEM movement planned for today, June 10th, 2020. In the Arizona State University School of Life Sciences, we stand with the STEM community at ASU, and with scientists across the world to “transition to a lifelong commitment of actions to eradicate anti-Black racism in academia and STEM.”   Our Teaching Innovation Team will be taking the day to read, listen and consider how we as individuals, and as a team, can make a positive change for more diverse and inclusive learning environments for our Black colleagues and students. We are grateful to Sara Brownell and her research group for promoting this movement, and encourage our readers to look at the research they are doing in the area of biology education and inclusion at: http://sebbers.wixsite.com/biology-ed-lab We urge our readers to take time from their day, and consider a way to participate that is meaningful and appropriate to your situation. Below are some resourc...

Imagine students sitting in a college classroom where attendance is required. The instructor is describing how the body works to maintain homeostasis and then the instructor tells a joke. How would you respond? Well, studies indicate that your response may depend on who you are. Humor as a powerful classroom tool A major objective of educators and instructors is to get students motivated and engaged in their classrooms. One way that instructors can create more engaging spaces for students is through the use of humor. Humor may be particularly helpful for science instructors to engage with students since they have been previously described by students as uninteresting and unfriendly. Humor can help instructors appear to be more relatable and like a “real person” to their students, potentially driving student motivation. However, humor has to be taken as funny for it to be an effective way to actually foster student engagement. A previous study conducted by our lab found that ...

As classrooms are becoming more diverse, teaching practices should become more inclusive toward all groups. Cultural competence, the shaping of lectures to be more inclusive toward different cultures’ beliefs, has become a more common practice in many university classrooms, yet it is routinely ignored when teaching evolution to religious students (Barnes & Brownell, 2017). This negligence can cause religious students to perceive the biology community as hostile and develop an even greater conflict between religion and evolution, but there are teaching practices that can decrease this perceived conflict (Barnes & Brownell, 2017). Hostility of Biology Professors Toward Religion Biology and religion have historically been at odds with each other, and despite their dualistic nature, continue to be perceived as incompatible by some biology professors and religious students (Rissler et al., 2014; Pew Research Center, 2009). There have been reports by religious students that biolo...

How can we act individually to promote inclusive classroom spaces? When the daily structure of classes are up to so many factors, pin-pointing a single source to propagate positive change in educational settings can seem far-fetched. This is because it is. Brazilian philosopher Paulo Freire strongly believed that cultural shifts require equal efforts from both sides of the system. In other words, if marginalized students are putting in the effort for a course then it should follow that those responsible for teaching said course are putting in an effort for the marginalized students. Educators with authority in these spaces can have profound impacts by creating space for others. When creating inclusive spaces, I’ve learned that there are three important concepts that need to first be understood. The Space You Occupy In a classroom, to not only grow your own set of skills but somebody else’s is an amazing opportunity that should not be wasted.  To make sure this doesn’t happen, f...

Have you ever questioned whether the simulations you use in your classroom reflect the diversity of your students?  This is a relevant topic at Arizona State University, and in the School of Life Sciences, we implemented a review team to specifically look at the avatars and environments shown in our simulations used for online lab classes. Our review team developed a cultural values guide that helped staff and instructors review specific cases where avatars could appear to be stereotypes, and make suggestions for changes that would show more diversity and be more inclusive.  Simulations were reviewed for: Using language that describes observable facts versus judgement in an assessment of an avatar.  Showing diversity with non-binary avatars, and non-traditional roles for genders Modeling interactions between avatars as respectful to various communities Showing a diversity of religious beliefs within the scientific community Promoting avatars with disabilities f...

Photo by  Nathan Dumlao  on  Unsplash Arizona State University's charter statement is a powerful reminder that we are here to create an inclusive learning environment for our students. A group of School of Life Sciences (SOLS) faculty recently affirmed that statement by engaging in an all-day, inclusive teaching workshop in San Francisco, hosted by the American Geophysical Union on Sunday, Dec. 8th, 2019. This event, facilitated by Prof. Kimberly Tanner from the Department of Biology at San Francisco State University and Prof. Jeff Schinske from the Department of Biology at Foothill Community College, engaged our faculty in a number of exercises aimed at helping them adopt practices that promote equity and inclusion. The core of the workshop was built upon two excellent and accessible articles: Structure Matters: Twenty-One Teaching Strategies to Promote Student Engagement and Cultivate Classroom Equity Order Matters: Using the 5E Model to Align Teaching with...