Biology Instructors’ Frames Regarding the Nature of Science: Connections to Teaching Practices and Implications

• In Event: Critical considerations for in-person and online teaching

Abstract

Many undergraduate science instructors operate within “neutrality” culture, which can translate into harmful teaching practices that do not acknowledge the identities and experiences of minoritized students. Additionally, instructors are currently under heightened scrutiny regarding what and how they teach due to multiple and ongoing “educational gag orders” on topics that are deemed “divisive.” Included among “divisive” topics under scrutiny are those pertaining to sex, sexuality, reproduction, and gender (SSRG), which are commonplace in many undergraduate biology curricula. This study explored the connection between biology instructors’ frames regarding the nature of science and how these frames manifest in their teaching of SSRG topics amid sociopolitical pressures to teach the sciences in “neutral” ways.

Authors

• Yoon Ha Choi, Digital Promise

• Antonio Duran, Arizona State University

• J. Audra Williams, Arizona State University

• Aramati Casper, Colorado State University

• Sarah L. Eddy, University of Minnesota