Project Abstract

Pervasive narratives about scientific brilliance exclude many students from pursuing careers in science. These narratives suggest that what counts is innate talent, knowing lots of information, and being quick and correct. The traditional design of STEM courses perpetuates these narrow views, which disproportionately impact students historically underrepresented in STEM.

The goal of “Developing Students’ Identity and Self-Perception as Capable STEM Thinkers and Learners” is to disrupt these narratives and misplaced assessments of what defines scientific brilliance. This project designs materials to help both instructors and students to see science as an expansive and inclusive set of practices. It explicitly defines scientific competence as participation in these practices. The diverse project team will use the results of research in the learning sciences and their collective expertise to:

Develop group-worthy equitable in-class activities and complementary social supports to empower students to recognize and develop their talents by practicing science; and
Empower faculty to build an inclusive classroom climate.

The activities for students center on providing data and information that foster thinking like a scientist by looking for patterns, generating rules, asking questions, and being open to ideas from team mates. The workshops and faculty engagement components offer supports for building a classroom environment that values the assets all students bring and that builds student talent. The materials produced will be online transferable modules that will be accessible to faculty across California.

Overall Project Scope

To achieve the goals above, our work has focused on three Specific Aims:

Aim #1: Engage Students

Work related to Aim #1 involves supporting both students’ sense of belonging in science and their abilities to engage in rich and rigorous learning. This includes building out a STEM learning community at College of Marin and developing activities, in conjunction with Aim #3, focused on transitional content and community building in a manner that supports growth mindset in STEM learning.

Aim #2: Chemistry Content for Change

This Aim focuses on the development of data-based and hands-on curricula to support student engagement and learning of introductory chemistry content.

Aim #3: Helping Faculty Support STEM Learning

To support Aim #1 and Aim #2, Aim #3 is the development of activities and curricula to engage faculty mindsets and perspectives that support inclusive learning environments and growth mindset for STEM student learning.

The video below provides a team summary of this work.

External Link to Team Video on YouTube

Focus of Curriculum Available in this Canvas Course

This Canvas Commons course serves as a dissemination hub for activities and workshops related to Aim #2 and support activities related to Aim #1. Aim #2 activities are hands-on and many are grounded in teaching chemistry content by having students do work as scientists to discover patterns and meaning that are the basis for a variety of Introductory Chemistry concepts. Support activities include Growth Mindset and Science Skill Development Trackers to monitor class pulse. Information on how to navigate this Canvas Commons page can be found in Navigating and Accessing our Instructional Materials.