STEM-Specific Teaching Guides

Sent on behalf of Tina Hanson-Lewis, lecturer in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and READI Equity Fellow.

Over the past year, your Equity Fellows have been hard at work serving as liaisons between each college and FDEV’s Hub for Research in Equity, Anti-racism, Diversity, and Inclusion (also known as the READI Hub). Based on the needs identified by each college, we developed, compiled, and/or organized resources in a manner that we hope will reduce barriers and increase access to resources. Some of these resources were in the form of new Teaching Guides. I particularly appreciate the Teaching Guides, as I find them concise, comprehensive, and extremely helpful. Each guide begins with a background information section, a list of peer-reviewed resources, and then a brief list of application ideas. The second half of the guide consists of resources in a variety of formats (text, videos, podcasts, etc.) about the topic from credible sources.

As liaison for the College of Natural Sciences (CNS), I was informed that many faculty members in CNS wanted STEM-specific guidance, since STEM course designs often differ from those in other fields. I would like to briefly introduce you to four new STEM-specific teaching guides that have been developed to meet this need.

• Flipping a STEM Course – (A Low Barrier Approach). This teaching guide supplements the more general “Flipped Classes” teaching guide by providing STEM faculty with additional insights and advice on how to flip their course(s).
• Assessment in the STEM classroom. As an addition to the more general teaching guides (“Formative Assessment” and “Summative Assessment“), this guide is designed to introduce STEM faculty to the concerns surrounding ‘traditional’ STEM assessments.
• The Anti-Racist STEM Classroom. Along with the guide on “Creating Anti-Racist Classrooms,” this STEM-specific add-on presents resources designed to assist faculty members in identifying how and where racism appears in STEM curricula.
• Inclusive Mentoring of STEM Students. In STEM we often work as mentors one on one with students or with small groups of students. Faculty may find themselves in a position where they mentor students who have different life experiences than their own. In this guide, faculty are provided with resources that will assist them in being better mentors.

These resources are provided in the hope that they will be helpful to you, even if you teach outside of the CNS. However, if you have any additional questions, concerns, or unmet needs, please do not hesitate to reach out.