Suggested Practices for Inclusive Teaching in Chemistry
Prepared by Jim Morken, Daniel Bak, and Ricky Alvarado on behalf of the Chemistry Department Diversity and Inclusion committee
The changing demographics of higher education means that instructors will encounter students with a broad array of backgrounds, personalities, expectations, and lived experiences. This document describes teaching practices that are considered to provide an inclusive teaching environment, to promote diversity in the sciences, and to provide equity and fairness in the treatment of students. It is divided into the three aspects that are central to our teaching endeavors, whether one is an instructor of a large class, small group discussion, or laboratory section.
Course Administration
At the outset, creating and maintaining a fair teaching environment where all students can access the curriculum is facilitated by establishing a climate where students of all backgrounds are welcomed, respected, and have the same opportunity for engagement. Actions should be taken at the outset of any class to establish the course atmosphere, and an administrative structure created to maintain an effective learning climate for all students. The following actions are recommended:
Create a Welcoming and Inclusive Environment. This is best accomplished by explicitly addressing topics related to inclusivity at the outset in the course syllabus, and in your early correspondence with your class.
The course syllabus should include an explicit and strong statement about an instructor’s commitment to providing an inclusive, tolerant, and respectful environment. It can also be helpful to reiterate your commitment during the first class. As an example: “It is my intent that students from all diverse backgrounds and perspectives be well-served by this course, that students' learning needs be addressed both in and out of class, and that the diversity that students bring to this class be viewed as a resource, strength and benefit. It is my intent to present materials and activities that are respectful of diversity: gender, sexual orientation, disability, age, socioeconomic status, ethnicity, race, culture, perspective, and other background characteristics. Your suggestions about how to improve the value of diversity in this course are encouraged and appreciated. Please let me know ways to improve the effectiveness of the course for you personally or for other students or student groups.” (source: University of Iowa)
To reflect your respect for different cultures, you may wish to include a statement such as the following: “In scheduling midterms and other exams, I have tried to avoid conflicts with major religious holidays. If there is a conflict with your religious observances, please let me know as soon as possible so that we can work together to make arrangements." (source: University of Iowa)
Students with disabilities may have accommodations that support them in the classroom, such as extra time allotted for exams, an option to take proctored exams in a private office in the Connors Family Learning Center, additional tools for note-taking during class, among others. Recognize that students with a visual impairment can benefit from larger clear media, so if you use PowerPoint for lectures, make your diagrams as large as possible, and make handouts accessible to students before lecture. Recognize the need of disabled students explicitly in your syllabus. As examples: "If you have a documented disability, please contact the Office of Disability Services as soon as possible and if you have other requirements and wish to discuss non-disability related academic accommodations, please contact me as soon as possible.” (source: UCLA, 2015) "If you are a student with a documented disability seeking reasonable accommodations in this course, please contact Kathy Duggan, (617) 552-8093, dugganka@bc.edu, at the Connors Family Learning Center regarding learning disabilities and ADHD, or the Disability Services Office (617) 552-3470, disabsrv@bc.edu, regarding all other types of disabilities, including temporary disabilities. Advance notice and appropriate documentation are required for accommodations." (source: Lynne O'Connell)
Send a welcome email after the first class with important course information and resources, and reinforce those that are meant to help disadvantaged students.
In the first lecture, take time to describe your own scientific journey. This can humanize the practice of science and can help students to see themselves eventually getting to where you are.
Provide a description of how you and the university will respond to issues of discrimination and harassment.
Using positive over punitive language can go a long way towards establishing an inviting classroom. For excellent ideas and examples about how to achieve this, visit the Accessible Syllabus website.
The instructor should be mindful of economically disadvantaged students, who may not be able to obtain textbooks, coursepacks, and other necessary material easily. If it is not a significant detriment to the course, instructors are encouraged to select inexpensive course materials or design the course such that older editions of textbooks that are available freely in the library can be employed in place of the most current version. For resources, visit the Affordable Course Resources website.
Instructors may wish to conduct a survey about students’ educational background, to signal that they are respectful of diverse student populations. Additionally, offer an opportunity for students to share any concerns they might have about participating in the course, such as difficulty in accessing materials. This can be conducted anonymously using either notecards or using a website such as “sli.do”.
Tell students that they are welcome to provide preferred pronouns, if they wish. It can help to set the example yourself and signal that you are an ally by providing your pronouns on the syllabus and on your Canvas webpage; allow but do not require students to do so themselves (source: Levin, R. N. 2018)
Set clear guidelines in your syllabus (re. Grading, Deadlines, and Objectives) and follow them. Your expectations might seem obvious to you, but may not be as obvious to students with differing backgrounds and lived experiences. The more information you can give the better, and the less likely that students will be needlessly discouraged. If you are going to grade on a curve, describe what that means, how you will do it, and if you can announce the median class grade, do so. Be aware that many students will assume a grade of 90 is an A, and 80 is a B, etc., whereas that is often not the case when courses are graded on a curve.
Include your office hours on the syllabus and make it clear that any student is welcome to approach you in person with questions during these times. Not all students are familiar with the purpose of office hours.
Classroom Teaching and Discussions
Many students are intimidated by science classes and anxiety about performance is a large barrier to learning. This obstacle can be exacerbated for minority students who may consider themselves an outsider in their field of study. These views can be either be enforced or counteracted by the structure of the classroom and teaching practices of the instructor. Of note, the strategies below may not be helpful to all students, but will help those who can use them and will not harm those who don’t.
If you teach in a lecture format, provide an outline of the lecture at the beginning and stick to it. Students are less likely to be anxious about learning material if they know what is going to happen (source: Chronicle of Higher Education). Periodically, check-in with the class by pausing to ask for questions. Remind students that the material is challenging so they should not hesitate to ask for clarification.
Provide students with opportunities to think critically about material and share ideas in a low anxiety environment. Rather than Socratic-style Q&A, pose questions to students and ask them to share ideas/answers with their neighbor, or use lecture polling/notecards or "clickers" to solicit anonymous answers from class. If applicable, ask questions that may have multiple answers or are open ended (eg. “what are some examples of …” or “what is one way that you can solve this problem?”). This will lower the stakes for students and help reveal any misunderstandings students may have.
Do not miss opportunities to talk about the diverse people who have provided the intellectual foundation for the course you teach. Personalization of chemistry in a way that highlights the perspectives and important achievements made by women, minority, and LGBTQ scientists can encourage broad participation of these groups in the classroom, and can also encourage members of these groups to consider careers in science. Take opportunities to show pictures of underrepresented scientists that have contributed to or applied the science under discussion. “Focusing solely on the experiences of one group or on a single perspective is likely to exclude diverse viewpoints. Such exclusion sends the message that only the experiences and scholarship of some groups are valued and may lead to particular students feeling marginalized.” (source: UCLA, 2015)
Counteract students’ negative self-perceptions about success by sharing times you may have struggled to learn course material. Avoid statements such as “I am sure this is obvious to all of you…” since it may not be obvious and may discourage students from asking questions.
Stay alert for micro-aggressions and your own implicit biases when interacting with students. For Examples:
Don’t always use “he” in examples.
Don’t assume that a person’s background will predispose them to think a certain way or have a certain knowledge; such an expectation will only serve to stigmatize people.
Avoid examples or comparisons that may not be relatable to all students, especially if it is likely to specifically disenfranchise minority or economically disadvantaged students.
Consider assigning groups rather than leaving it up to students to self-sort for any structured group assignments or discussion groups. The goal is to diversify the make-up of each group in your course, so that groups do not segregate based on gender or minority status. Additionally, research into "onlyness" (Harper, S. R, 2013) suggests that there are benefits to designing groups that avoid isolating minority students.
For example, if you are dividing a class of fifty into ten groups and there are only six Black students in the class, you may decide to have two Black students in three different groups rather than one Black student in six groups.
If you teach in the “flipped classroom” format, provide ground-rules for break-out sessions (students should introduce themselves to each other, leave their cell-phones off, and everyone in the group should participate, not just the most vocal). Circulate amongst the class to ensure that respectful interactions are occurring.
Assessments
Disadvantaged students are more likely to be discouraged by poor grades than their peers, and the phenomena of stereotype-threat (the fear of confirming negative stereotypes) can negatively affect performance (APA, 2006). While grading in chemistry is quantitative to the point that implicit bias may not often be a factor in evaluation of students’ work, the manner in which students are assessed can play a large role in their success in chemistry. To minimize stress and avoid triggering self-doubt on assessments, consider the following:
1. Provide multiple and frequent low-stakes opportunities for assessment and feedback. While one might argue that frequent quizzes/homework can eat into class time and can add a significant burden to grading, use of modern grading tools such as Canvas and administration of quizzes/homework during non-class hours can avoid both of these problems. This activity encourages students to stay abreast of the material and offers them a chance to assess their own progress.
"Consider post-lecture quizzes which are counted for “completion, not correctness”. These can serve as participation credit, and an index for how students are learning the course material and can come before higher-stakes assessments." (source: Amherst College, 2019)
2. It is best to provide an array of question types on exams, to engage an array of different learning/thinking styles. Including multiple-choice, short answer, and fill-in-the-blank type questions can give different learners an opportunity to excel.
3. To avoid singling out specific groups, do not use exam/quiz questions that refer to people. For example, questions that start with scenarios such as “Sally didn’t know chemistry very well and mixed up…” are unnecessary and risk discouraging the population of people in the example. Likewise, avoid overly specific and potentially unrelatable scenarios, especially if they disadvantage minority or economically disadvantaged students.
4. Reiterate that effort is the most important component of success, and that all students must work hard to succeed. Students rate their perceived ability to succeed as a significant factor in their decisions to persist in or leave STEM majors, and because course grades are not always indicative of ability to succeed, students’ decisions are often ill informed.
“Encourage your students to view their performance as a measure of their effort, not their innate ability. Help students understand that they are capable and that sustained effort is needed to achieve. Expect that all students have strengths and will succeed with effort, and articulate this expectation frequently.” (source: University of Michigan, CRLT, 2009)
5. Value improvement in addition to initial aptitude and performance. This can be encouraged by allowing students to correct mistakes on exams for a small amount of partial credit, drop lowest exam score, etc. )
Additional Information and Resources
“Introduction to Systems Thinking for the Chemistry Education Community"
Article on inclusive teaching from The Chronicle of Higher Education
"Am I My Brother’s Teacher? Black Undergraduates, Racial Socialization, and Peer Pedagogies in Predominantly White Postsecondary Contexts," Shaun R. Harper, Review of Research in Education, March 2013, Vol. 37, pp. 183-211.
"The Problem With Pronouns" Levin, R. N., Inside Higher Ed. September 19, 2018
"Stereotype Threat Widens Achievement Gap" American Psychological Association, July 15, 2006
Examples of Chemistry Departments Inclusive Teaching Documents: