DEI and Social Justice in STEMM Blog
ASCN Working Group 5 is calling for blog posts around diversity, equity, inclusion (DEI), and social justice in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine (STEMM) programs, classrooms and departments. Some potential areas for discussion include:
- Changing the culture around introductory "weed out" courses
- Defining what diversity, equity, inclusion, and social justice mean in the classroom
- Creating diversity statements for STEMM departments
- Approaching positionality in the classroom
- Addressing the pushback to Critical Race Theory on campuses
- Including historically marginalized students in decision-making processes
Posts will be shared with educators and administrators and hosted on the ASCN Blog. Anyone working on incorporating DEI and justice into STEMM programs and education is welcome to post. Our posting criteria may be found on the Author instructions. All posts will receive comments from an editing team prior to posting. Please consider contributing to our ongoing discussion!
Editorial team:
What is Social Justice in STEMM Higher Education
Posted: Apr 15 2022 by
Social justice in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Medicine (STEMM) higher education may be defined as ensuring that all students see themselves as fully represented and supported members of STEMM fields, even as new students (Byars-Winston & Dahlberg, 2020). That baseline implies that each student's cultural, religious, sexual and, gender identities, nationality, and socio-economic backgrounds are respected, welcomed, and honored in the STEMM courses. Social justice also includes access for learners of various backgrounds and preparation, of variously-abled situations, and socio-economic status. Social justice in STEMM also requires that faculty are as diverse as the student body, and that curricula include robust representation of fully diverse scientists, their data, and their work. Students can then see perspectives of counter-stereotypical scientists, and see themselves in those roles and in that work. The current reality in STEMM classrooms does not reflect that ideal of social justice. We therefore argue that curricula, faculty and staff, and school support systems need to change in order to incorporate social justice into STEMM. More
Social Justice in Undergraduate STEMM Education 2040: An Optimist's Perspective
Posted: Apr 8 2022 by
It is the year 2040!
The intersecting crises of the 2020's (the pandemic, systemic racism, and climate change) finally led faculty groups and funders to a social justice agenda for Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Medicine (STEMM) education. Thousands of faculty read Ibram Kendi's How to be an Antiracist (2019) and began to realize that open educational resources (OER) and open pedagogy (OP) were needed to address the racial and ethnic disparities in health, impacts of climate change, and institutional practices. A revolution began! More
Enacting Rightful Presence to Promote Students' Belonging
Posted: Feb 24 2022 by
As we educators pursue equitable and just practices in STEM education, we acknowledge our students' diverse experiences and challenges, and we recognize the importance of their sense of belonging in our learning communities. Too often, we focus on quantifiable differences without considering how our actions and policies can impact the ways our students' voices and presence are valued and the extent to which their beliefs and dispositions are respected within our community. By enacting rightful presence (Calabrese & Tan, 2020), we can foster the sense of belonging that is essential for all students, particularly underrepresented groups, to succeed in our classrooms (Rainey et al., 2018 ). More
Are we Gatekeepers or Groundskeepers? Being a good introductory STEMM instructor in a pandemic and beyond
Posted: Feb 1 2022 by
Georgia was a confident high school student. Despite the pandemic she continued to earn high marks in her science courses, motivating her to pursue a science major as she began college. She entered her first year at Perpetual University taking introductory biology and chemistry, along with participating in ROTC and community service learning. Although she had many commitments outside the classroom, she believed she could manage all her obligations on her own. But when she began failing quizzes and exams, instead of seeking out resources on campus right away, she put off reviewing her work and intended to address the concerns later. By the end of her first semester, she was facing academic suspension. In her view she felt ashamed for being in this position and couldn't bear to face the issues even though her professors, advisor, and academic support staff reached out to her and offered to help. Although Georgia was able to continue her college studies, she turned away from the science track because she could not envision success in these courses in her future. More
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