Reducing Racially-Biased Beliefs by Fostering a Complex Understanding of Human Genetics Research in High-School Biology Students

遗传本质主义认为，同一种族的人拥有相同的基因，这些基因使他们在身体、认知和行为上都是一致的，因此与其他种族不同。该项目将完善一门名为“人类基因组素养”（HGL）的遗传学教育课程，以减少对基因本质主义的信仰。这项研究将为课程编写者和教育工作者提供有关如何设计人道遗传学教育的知识，以最大限度地减少学生的遗传本质主义信仰，并最大限度地减少适得其反的威胁（无意中增加了对本质主义的信仰）。研究结果将展示如何通过使用HGL学习材料向学生讲授人类遗传学研究的复杂性来支持那些希望减少遗传本质主义信念的教师。项目研究成果、学习材料和专业发展机构将提供给全国各地希望教授遗传学以减少种族偏见的教育工作者和研究人员。为了准备这项研究，该项目将修订和扩大项目现有的HGL课程和专业发展机构。在第一年，该项目将开发新版本的HGL干预措施。利用这些材料，该项目将培训教师在课堂上实施新版高水平英语干预措施。研究人员将对教师和学生的学习过程进行录像和录音。将对这些数据进行定性分析：(1)考察教师、学生和材料之间的互动如何促进或阻碍遗传本质主义的概念变化；(2)识别和确证逆冲效应背后的一般因素。通过这些研究构建的知识将用于修订HGL干预措施和pdi。在第三年，使用HGL干预的修订版本，该项目将进行一个集群随机试验（CRT）。CRT将使用统计上强大且地理上不同的样本（N = 135名教师，N = 16,200名学生，来自33个州），将HGL干预措施与定义明确的“一切照例”遗传学课程进行比较。利用来自CRT的数据，该项目将确定哪些教室的干预措施减少了本质主义，对其没有影响，以及适得其反。然后，该项目将使用刺激回忆法采访这些教室的教师和学生，以了解促成这些结果的因素。该项目将利用这些信息制定高gl干预措施的最终版本和PDI材料。到第四年结束时，该项目将在至少33个不同的州额外培训90-100名教师使用HGL干预措施，惠及额外的10,800-12,000名学生。探索研究preK-12项目（DRK-12）旨在通过研究和开发创新资源、模型和工具，显著提高preK-12学生和教师对科学、技术、工程和数学（STEM）的学习和教学。DRK-12计划中的项目建立在STEM教育的基础研究和先前的研究和开发工作的基础上，为拟议的项目提供了理论和实证依据。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Genetic essentialism is the belief that people of the same race share genes that make them physically, cognitively, and behaviorally uniform, and thus different from other races. The project will refine a genetics education curriculum, called Humane Genome Literacy (HGL), in order to reduce belief in genetic essentialism. This research will provide curriculum writers and educators with knowledge about how to design a humane genetics education to maximize reductions in students’ genetic essentialist beliefs and minimize the threat of backfiring (unintentionally increasing belief in essentialism). The research findings will demonstrate how to support teachers who wish to reduce beliefs in genetic essentialism by teaching students about the complexity of human genetics research using the HGL learning materials. Project research findings, learning materials, and professional development institutes will be made available to educators and researchers across the country who desire to teach genetics to reduce racial prejudice. To prepare for the research, the project will revise and augment the project’s existing HGL curriculum and professional development institutes. In year one, the project will develop new versions of the HGL interventions. Using these materials, the project will train teachers to implement new versions of the HGL interventions in their classrooms. Researchers will video and audio record a sample of teachers and students as they learn. These data will be analyzed qualitatively to: (1) examine how the conceptual change of genetic essentialism was promoted or impeded by interactions between teachers, students, and the materials; and (2) identify and corroborate general factors undergirding the backfiring effect. Knowledge constructed through these studies will be used to revise the HGL interventions and PDIs. In year three, using the revised versions of the HGL intervention, the project will conduct a cluster randomized trial (CRT). The CRT will compare the HGL interventions to a well-defined “business as usual” genetics curriculum, using a statistically powerful and geographically diverse sample (N = 135 teachers, N = 16,200 students, from 33 states). Using data from the CRT, the project will identify classrooms where the interventions reduced essentialism, had no effect on it, and where it backfired. Then, the project will use stimulated recall methods to interview the teachers and students in those classrooms to make sense of factors that contributed to these outcomes. The project will use this information to develop the final version of the HGL interventions and PDI materials. By the end of year four, the project will have trained an additional 90-100 teachers to use HGL interventions, reaching an additional 10,800-12,000 students, in at least 33 different states. The Discovery Research preK-12 program (DRK-12) seeks to significantly enhance the learning and teaching of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) by preK-12 students and teachers, through research and development of innovative resources, models and tools. Projects in the DRK-12 program build on fundamental research in STEM education and prior research and development efforts that provide theoretical and empirical justification for proposed projects.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.