Exploring the Effect of Shared Identities Between Instructors and Students in the Undergraduate Biology Classroom

该项目旨在通过使STEM教室和学科更受所有学生欢迎来服务于国家利益。 来自边缘化群体的个人在STEM中往往感到不受欢迎和没有代表性。 遇到这种感觉的学生不太可能比同龄人坚持STEM专业。 具有边缘化身份的教师可以对具有相同身份的学生产生积极影响。 然而，目前还不清楚边缘化学生在多大程度上知道或知道与他们身份相同的教师，以及这种知识是否会影响学生的大学经历。 该项目旨在评估生物学教师分享其LGBTQ+身份时对学生的影响，包括对LGBTQ+学生在生物学教室和大学STEM社区的归属感的影响。 这些知识可能有助于确定提高本科生的归属感和STEM能力的战略，从而支持来自不同边缘化群体的学生取得更大的成功。带有负面定型观念的被边缘化、被污名化的身份可能是无形的，因为拥有这些身份的人必须选择揭露这些身份。 目前，尚不清楚教师分享无形的污名化身份会如何影响分享和不分享该身份的学生。 该项目团队在领导解决STEM教育中的多样性和身份问题的成功项目方面有着良好的记录。 在这个项目中，研究人员将使用深入访谈和全国性调查来研究教师与学生分享LGBTQ+身份的程度。 该项目已经招募了大量志愿者参加面试。 项目小组希望利用无形的污名化身份框架，确定影响教师决定与学生分享边缘化身份的因素。 此外，通过一项准实验研究，该项目旨在探讨教师简要提及其LGBTQ+身份时的影响。 该项目将研究对所有学生的一般影响，以及对具有这种身份的学生的具体影响，重点是学生的归属感，科学身份和科学自我效能。 这些结果已被确立为学生坚持科学的重要预测指标。 该项目团队还将研究教师如何分享他们的LGBTQ+身份影响学生对教师可爱性，能力和相关性的看法。 我们制定了强大的数据管理计划，以确保数据安全和隐私。 虽然这项工作将侧重于生物学，但其努力的结果可能适用于其他STEM学科。 NSF IUSE：EHR计划支持研究和开发项目，以提高所有学生STEM教育的有效性。 该奖项反映了NSF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。

This project aims to serve the national interest by making STEM classrooms and disciplines more welcoming to all students. Individuals from marginalized groups often feel unwelcome and unrepresented in STEM. Students who encounter such feelings are less likely to persist in STEM majors than their peers. Instructors with a marginalized identity can positively impact students who share the same identity. However, it is unclear to what extent marginalized students know or know of instructors who share their identity, and whether this knowledge affects students’ college experiences. This project intends to assess impacts on students when biology instructors’ share their LGBTQ+ identities, including impacts on LGBTQ+ students’ sense of belonging in biology classrooms and college STEM communities. This knowledge may help to identify strategies that improve undergraduate students’ sense of belonging and capability in STEM, thus supporting greater success of students from diverse marginalized groups. Marginalized stigmatized identities that carry negative stereotypes can be invisible because a person who carries these identifies must choose to reveal them. Currently, it is unclear how an instructor’s sharing of an invisible stigmatized identity may impact students both who do and do not share that identity. The project team has a strong record of leading successful projects that address issues of diversity and identity in STEM education. In this project, the researchers will use in-depth interviews and a national survey to examine the extent to which instructors share their LGBTQ+ identities with their students. The project has already recruited a substantial number of volunteers to participate in the interviews. Using the framework of invisible stigmatized identities, the project team hopes to identify factors that influence an instructor’s decision to share a marginalized identity with their students. Additionally, through a quasi-experimental study, the project intends to explore the impacts when instructors briefly mention their LGBTQ+ identity. The project will examine the general impacts on all students and specific impacts on those students who share this identity, with a focus on students' sense of belonging, science identity, and self-efficacy in science. These outcomes have been established as important predictors of students’ persistence in science. The project team will also examine how instructors’ sharing of their LGBTQ+ identity affects students’ perception of instructor likeability, competence, and relatability. A strong data management plan is in place to ensure data security and privacy. Although this work will focus on biology, the results of its efforts will likely be applicable in other STEM disciplines. The NSF IUSE: EHR Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Engaged Student Learning track, the program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising practices and tools.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.