Recruiting and retaining diverse individuals in science is integral to promoting scientific progress, and in order to do this, science must first become more inclusive for all individuals. Currently, science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) academic environments are often considered to be unwelcoming and unfriendly spaces for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex and asexual (LGBTQIA+) individuals.
This is the fourth and final essay in a series of blog posts to be released this quarter by the ASCB LGBTQ+ committee under the theme of “Building a Welcoming Community for LGBTQ+ Scientists.” As this is posted many of us will be starting to teach undergraduate classes – Our ultimate source of scientists. In this post, Dr. Sara Brownell shares some thoughts on the importance of LGBTQ+ representation in the classroom, an area that she has actively researched.
How accessible is online education? Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, students across the globe have had to adjust to a new normal as colleges and universities rapidly transitioned from in-person instruction to online and hybrid instruction. Though many applauded the newly found flexibility of online instruction, many undergraduate students found new challenges, specifically those students with disabilities.
Active learning has been recommended as a more effective way to teach when compared to traditional lecturing, yet active learning can be implemented in many different ways. One common approach in active learning is to ask students to share out their thoughts either with other students or in front of the whole class.
Although Christians are overrepresented in American society, they are underrepresented in biology careers. What is the reason for this under-representation? Prior research has indicated that Christians feel as though they don’t belong in biology, that some biology instructors make Christians feel as though they have to choose between their faith and biology, and many people incorrectly assume that one has to be an atheist to accept evolution.
Mohammed, T. F., Nadile, E. M., Busch, C. A., Brister, D., Brownell, S. E., Claiborne, C. T., ... & Cooper, K. M. (2021). Aspects of Large-Enrollment Online College Science Courses That Exacerbate and Alleviate Student Anxiety. CBE—Life Sciences Education, 20(4), ar69.
Supriya, K., Mead, C., Anbar, A. D., Caulkins, J. L., Collins, J. P., Cooper, K. M., ... & Brownell, S. E. (2021) Undergraduate Biology Students Received Higher Grades During COVID-19 but Perceived Negative Effects on Learning. Frontiers in Education, 6(759624).
Turner, A. N., Challa, A. K., & Cooper, K. M. (2021). Student perceptions of authoring a publication stemming from a course-based undergraduate research experience (CURE). CBE—Life Sciences Education, 20(3), ar46.
Barnes, M. E., Roberts, J. A., Maas, S. A., & Brownell, S. E. (2021). Muslim undergraduate biology students’ evolution acceptance in the United States. PLoS ONE 16(8): e0255588.
Dancz, C. L., Ketchman, K. J., Burke, R. D., Hottle, T. A., Parrish, K., Bilec, M. M., & Landis, A. E. (2017). Utilizing Civil Engineering Senior Design Capstone Projects to Evaluate Students' Sustainability Education across Engineering Curriculum. Advances in Engineering Education, 6(2), n2.