SCIENTIST OF THE WEEK: ASSESSING THE EFFECTS OF DIVERSE REPRESENTATION IN STEM CLASSROOMS

Who do we see represented in introductory STEM courses? We often talk about the ideas summarized by “great” scientists, like James Hutton, Isaac Newton, and Niels Bohr, however, all of these scientists have something in common: every one of them is a white, cisgender man. Some courses might include brief mentions of Marie Curie, the first woman awarded a Nobel Peace Prize for her work on radioactivity as well as a Nobel Peace Prize for discovering radium and polonium, or Mary Anning, the paleontologist denied entry to the Geological Society due to her gender. But these mentions aren’t enough. Educators of all STEM courses need to critically evaluate who is being presented in their course material and how they can be more conscientious of inclusion. Seeing scientists who share similar backgrounds and identities (e.g., culture, disability, gender, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, veteran status, etc.) is vital for giving students an avenue to visualize themselves belonging in a STEM field. It is also vital for all students to see scientists that don’t fit the stereotypes of scientists that have been formed by society. To address the aforementioned issue, we implemented an intervention into a university-level geoscience course, “Scientist of the Week”. The segment introduced diverse scientists across any range of STEM careers; these scientists have ranged from Nobel laureates, avocational scientists, science writers, and more across every scientific subdiscipline and personal background. The class discussed the scientist, their research, and their path through STEM, as well as had purposeful discussions about the historical systematic barriers that have made it difficult for underrepresented/minoritized groups to participate in science throughout history and today. To answer how an in-class diversity intervention impacted student perceptions of science and scientists, we conducted semi-structured interviews with a population of students who had taken the course previously. We found that most students broadened their conceptions of scientists and scientific identity as a result of this intervention.