Anne Fausto-Sterling has a tremendous list of publications on this matter. She also published with Scott Gilbert an article explaining the philosophy behind the Bioethics supplement of Developmental Biology, THE book for any developmental biologist. The paper is Educating for social responsibility: changing the syllabus of developmental biology.
Reaching All Students and More Social Justice
A comprehensive resource from the CIRTL network is this Reaching All Students. It goes from planning a course to teaching methods and assessment, including plenty of tips. A great open source.
Chamany, Allen and Tanner join efforts in this paper from 2008 Making Biology Learning Relevant to students: Integrating People, History, and Context into College Biology Teaching
Sible et al 2005 presents the development of a course in Teaching Cell and Molecular Biology for Gender Equity
Incorporating Social Justice in the Sciences
Katayoun Chamany is an Associate Professor of Natural Sciences and Mathematics at Eugene Lang College, pretty much at the heart of New York city. I don’t intend to reinvent the wheel here, so I’ll just paste her profile, which says quite clearly the kind of (amazing) work that she is doing. I'll include a few references at the end.
Born in Iran, raised in Iowa, and trained as a geneticist and cell biologist, Katayoun finds the study of biological processes fascinating. For over a decade she has been conducting research to better understand why some students share her love for biology, while others recoil from the subject. Part of her work suggests that biology courses must be contextualized and made relevant, especially for those students who don’t initially see biology as important to their everyday experiences. To promote this education reform, she has developed seminars, workshops and educational materials that reflect an interactive and case-based method of teaching and learning. She firmly believes that biology is accessible and relevant to everyone, and that a basic understanding of biology is important for contributive members of society.
Chamany 2006, Science and Social Justice. Making the case for case studies
Chamany K. 2004-2009. Cell Biology for Life: Online Book and Curriculum. Three modules include: Stem Cells (basic cell biology) Botulinum Toxin (specialized cells and communication), and HPV and Cancer (viral genetics and oncogenesis).
Chamany K. 2001. “Niños Desaparecidos: A Case Study About Genetics and Human Rights.” Journal of College Science Teaching. 31 (1):61-65.
BILD95 Spring 2011
Reader for BILD95 Spring 2011 Intergroup Dialogue: Skills for building effective multicultural research teams.
Mervis J. 2010. Better Intro Courses Seen as Key to Reducing Attrition of STEM Majors. Science 330:306-.
Mervis J. 2010. Better Intro Courses Seen as Key to Reducing Attrition of STEM Majors. Science 330:306-.
McCormick, D. W. (1999). Listening With Empathy: Taking the Other Person's Perspective. In A. Cooke, A. Craig, B. Greig, & M. Brazzel (Eds.). (pp. 57-60). Reading Book for Human Relations Training. Arlington, VA: NTL Institute.
Bidol, P. (1986). Interactive communication. In P. Bidol, L. Bardwell, & N. Manring (Eds.), Alternative environmental conflict management approaches: A citizen’s model, (pps. 205-209). Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan School of Natural Resources.
Beverly Daniel Tatum, Ph.D. The complexity of identity: “Who am I?” In Why are all of the blacks sitting together in the cafeteria? And Other Conversations About Race, revised edition (New York, NY: Basic Books, 2003): Chapter 2, pp. 18-28.
Harro, B. (2000). The Cycle of Socialization. In M. Adams, W. J. Blumenfeld, R. Casteñeda, H. Hackman, M. Peters, X. Zúñiga (Eds.), Readings for Diversity and Social Justice: An anthology on racism, antisemitism, sexism, heterosexism, ableism, and classism (pp. 463-469). NY: Routledge.
Enrico, D. (1995, Sept.). Bridges: How I learned I wasn't Caucasian. Glamour (p. 6).
Pharr, S. (1997). Common elements of oppression. In Homophobia: A weapon of sexism. Hoboken, NJ: Chardon Press.
Lorde, Audre (1996). There is no hierarchy of oppression. In J. Andrzejewski (Ed.), Oppression and social justice: Critical frameworks, (5th Ed, p. 51). Boston, MA: Pearson Custom Publishing.
Pincus, F. (2000). Discrimination comes in many forms: Individual, institutional, and structural. In M. Adams, W.J. Blumenfeld, R. Casteñeda, H. Hackman, M. Peters, X. Zúñiga (Eds.), Readings for Diversity and Social Justice: An anthology on racism, antisemitism, sexism, heterosexism, ableism, and classism (pp. 31-35). NY: Routledge.
Anzaldúa, G. E. (2000). Allies. In M. Adams, W. J. Blumenfeld, R. Castañeda, H. W. Hackman, M. L. Peters & X. Zúñiga (Eds.), Readings for Diversity and Social Justice: An anthology on racism, antisemitism, sexism, heterosexism, ableism, and classism (pp. 475-477). NY: Routledge.
Sherover-Marcuse, R. (2000). Working assumptions and guidelines for alliance building. In M. Adams, W. J. Blumenfeld, R. Castañeda, H. W. Hackman, M. L. Peters & X. Zúñiga (Eds.), Readings for Diversity and Social Justice: An anthology on racism, antisemitism, sexism, heterosexism, ableism, and classism (pp. 486-487). NY: Routledge.
Harro, B. (2000) The cycle of liberation, Readings for Diversity and Social Justice: An anthology on racism, antisemitism, sexism, heterosexism, ableism, and classism (pp. 463-69). NY: Routledge.
McClintock, M. (2000) How to interrupt oppressive behavior. Readings for Diversity and Social Justice: An anthology on racism, antisemitism, sexism, heterosexism, ableism, and classism (pp. 483-85). NY: Routledge.
Why some get high graduation rates
FemaleSicenceProfessor talks in her other blog, Scientopia, of the reasons that make her research group having an excellent graduation rate. I think is so worth it that deserves a bit of copying and pasting.
The success of our graduates is primarily a testament to their talents and hard work. There is no doubt about that.
Even so, we (the professors) like to think that we had some role in launching these careers. I should say here that I am using the research group ‘we’, although I am the youngest professor in the group and #3 in terms of number of PhDs graduated, so the credit primarily goes to my colleagues.
In any case: What, if anything, do we do that maximizes the chances of post-graduate success for our advisees? Earlier today, I discussed this with one of my research group colleagues, the most successful mentor of us all. We came up with the following, only somewhat-self-serving hypotheses:
And then she describes the FIVE points:
1. We encourage our advisees to consider their doctoral research in a broad context.
2. We work with our advisees to find interesting research topics.
3. A combination of 1 & 2: we encourage breadth and depth in the research topic
4. Most of our graduates are supported by a combination of research and teaching assistantships
5. We push them to publish, attend conferences (and present their research), and write proposals.
Oh, and the ending. She sure believes in what she does
I have stated many times in the FSP blog, and probably here in Scientopia as well, that I view a research group as a community: a community of people who work together and who, by the work of the individuals and the group, help each other. Today’s topic is a great example of the community concept: If graduates of our research group are successful at getting good jobs, this becomes widely known and attracts new excellent students to our group, and the cycle continues for as long as we are fortunate to have ideas, students, grants...It doesn't seem so difficult when she describes it, so, why is it so rare to find a lab like that? I don't know about you, but I am beginning to think that being nice cannot be enough anymore for a PI to be put in the bag of good mentors...
Attrition also happens at Grad School
The Ph.D. Completion Project is a seven-year, grant-funded project that addresses the issues surrounding Ph.D. completion and attrition. In the news section the have plenty of good articles about what the rates of graduation are in different groups and what universities can do to improve their rates.
The FemaleScienceProfessor opens a room for discussion about the attrition rates or, as she calls them, the graduation rates.
In some places they actually measure those rates and make them available: Penn State Clinical Psychology Program; the UC Berkeley PhD Program in School Psychology
Some cases seem worse than other. 62% PhD student drop out rate at Flemish Universities
This is from the NSF, Summary of Workshop on Graduate Student Attrition
The Graduate School at the University of Minnesota publishes the numbers of several programs, has an amazing compilation of resources in its PhD Completion Project site. Check out the list of things that make for an Excellent Graduate Student Experience. They also have an Office for Diversity in Graduate Education. A bit out of topic, their Office of Interdisciplinary Initiatives seems like a great idea.
Stereotypes
Reducing the stereotype threat
Steele, 1995; Stereotype Threat and the Intellectual Test Performance of African Americans
Even though is not exactly the topic of this blog, I can't help it but including this link on Inacurate and Overly Hostile Stereotypes with plenty of references about dealing with stereotypes in VERY serious conflicts
Steele, 1995; Stereotype Threat and the Intellectual Test Performance of African Americans
Even though is not exactly the topic of this blog, I can't help it but including this link on Inacurate and Overly Hostile Stereotypes with plenty of references about dealing with stereotypes in VERY serious conflicts
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