Dominant ideologies and paradigms inform approaches to science and practice. How scientists conduct research is determined by their ideological stance. Ideological awareness (IA) is an understanding of biases, stereotypes, and assumptions that shape contemporary and historical science. In collaboration with researchers from South Alabama and Tuskegee University, we are interested in how contextualizing societal and ethical considerations into biology curricula impact student experiences and learning. A 3-year NSF grant will support our efforts to address this research!
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Robin Costello is representing the lab at this year’s iEmber Conference in beautiful Billings, Montana! This meeting brings together folks from biology and multiple social science disciplines to collaborate and share ideas related to DEI in biology. She’ll be presenting results from our DataVersify project: studying the impacts of highlighting and humanizing scientists as role models in undergraduate biology courses.
We are at the NSF Summit for the Improvement of Undergraduate STEM Education in Washington DC this week – connecting with colleagues (IRL!) and presenting progress on our DataVersify project!
Ballen and postdoc Abby Beatty featured in Auburn University news for NSF grant (Oct 2021): The impact of going beyond a ‘value-free’ biology curriculum with award from NSF.
Received official award notice from the NSF about our Improving Undergraduate STEM Education grant! This kicks off 3 yrs of research exploring ideological awareness in bio classrooms with soon-to-be postdoc Abby Beatty, Jeremiah Henning, & alongside students and bio instructors!
Our “Fostering Ideological Awareness In Postsecondary Biology” collaborative earned an iEMBER Inclusive Teaching and Research Project Idea Award. This project is led by Abby Beatty and in collaboration with Jeremiah Henning (South Alabama), Sheritta Fagbodun (Tuskegee University), Randy Klabacka (AU), and Kimberly Mulligan (AU). Way to go team!