Student perceptions of inclusive pedagogy in undergraduate STEM classrooms

Abstract

In university STEM classrooms, the incorporation of inclusive practices improves student performance, decreases disparities in the academic success of underrepresented students, and increases student retention and persistence in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) programs. Inclusive pedagogical practices include effective instructional choices like active learning, providing rubrics, and other strategies that have been shown to support students from disadvantaged backgrounds. Additionally, explicitly inclusive practices such as addressing microaggressions and sharing pronouns can promote a sense of belonging for students. While a plethora of literature has shown these impacts and faculty have access to resources and training about inclusive pedagogy, we were interested in whether students are noticing these practices and how student identities impact their observations of instructional practices. We surveyed undergraduates ( n = 74) from diverse STEM disciplines at a large land-grant university regarding their observation of 11 different inclusive pedagogical practices. Overall, students observed inclusive instructional practices more often than they observed explicitly diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI)-related practices. For explicitly DEI-related practices, white students observed more practices than Students of Color. This suggests that more work needs to be done to train faculty in explicit DEI-related practices, especially with the goal of supporting Students of Color who have been historically excluded from STEM.

“Systems Thinking (ST) Encourages a Safe Space to Offer Different Perspectives and Insights”: Student Perspectives and Experiences with ST Activities

“…Collaborative ST tasks could connect chemistry and the learning environment with personal experience, interest, culture, and knowledge by engaging diverse students in conversations that are rarely encountered when common teaching approaches in chemistry education are used . Inclusive teaching pedagogy that supports the experience of a diverse student population can enhance the learning and success of all students, support STEM innovation, decrease disparities in the academic success of underrepresented students, and increase student retention and persistence in STEM programs. − While our findings identified potential benefits of ST approaches, further investigation is needed to measure inclusion and equity outcomes of a collaborative ST approach in STEM education.…”

“Systems thinking encourages a safe space to offer different perspectives and insights”: Student perspectives and experiences with ST activities

“…78 Inclusive teaching pedagogy that supports the experience of a diverse student population can enhance the learning and success of all students, support STEM innovation, decrease disparities in the academic success of underrepresented students, and increase student retention and persistence in STEM programs. [79][80][81][82][83][84][85] While our findings identified potential benefits of ST approaches, further investigation is needed to measure inclusion and equity outcomes of a collaborative ST approach in STEM education.…”