NSF Award
2327488
Race essentialism is the incorrect belief that race is an inherent biological characteristic resulting in distinct race categories. While race essentialism has been shown to be correlated with increased bias, stereotypes, and prejudice, improving student understandings of race has been shown to lower these distorted beliefs. This project is designed to serve the national interest by assessing beliefs about race of STEM instructors and students, increasing awareness of intersectionality, and developing recommendations targeting misconceptions about race in the classroom. These recommendations will ultimately inform improvements in STEM education which is of significance to teaching race and ethnicity and could result in more accurate understandings of race in society. <br/> <br/>This project measures undergraduate biology instructors’ and students’ concepts of race and combine this information with existing biology education literature and recommendations from experts in diversity, equity, and inclusion to create comprehensive guidelines for teaching race and ancestry in undergraduate biology through anti-essentialist and culturally relevant lenses. Racial biases directly harm historically marginalized and excluded communities, but little is known about how race concepts are perceived by individual faculty and students or reinforced by curricular materials. While virtually all current research supports a socially constructed view of race, race essentialism is still prevalent among the public and within scientific research. STEM educators in biology are in a unique position to counteract essentialist views of race and have a positive impact on both our students as well as the broader society. This project is designed to accomplish the following goals: (1) Explore the educational practices and beliefs of STEM instructors who teach biology, (2) Analyze the race concepts of undergraduate biology students and how they respond to instruction on these topics, (3) Expand upon instructor and student race concepts (1&2) with in-depth interviews of students and instructors, and (4) Create and disseminate new guidelines to address these issues by identifying gaps and missteps in biology education related to race. This project will improve STEM Education by creating a summary of the ways race and ancestry are taught in biology courses and by developing guidelines and recommendations that target specific race misconceptions. <br/><br/>This project is supported by NSF’s STEM Education Postdoctoral Research Fellowship (STEM Ed PRF) Program with co-funding from The Kaleta A. Doolin Foundation. The STEM Education Postdoctoral Research Fellowship (STEM Ed PRF) program that aims to enhance the research knowledge, skills, and practices of recent doctorates in STEM, STEM education, education, and related disciplines to advance their preparation to engage in fundamental and applied research that advances knowledge within the field. The Kaleta A. Doolin Foundation through a partnership with the National Science Foundation seeks to promote greater diversity within the STEM/STEM education research workforce.<br/><br/>This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
