Interrogating the Traditional Undergraduate Biology Curriculum: Pedagogical Choices that Reinforce or Resist Cisheteronormativitiy

• In Event: K-12 Curriculum in the Content Areas

Abstract

There is an epidemic of violence against transgender people, educators are threatened to out gender non-conforming students, and the traditional biology curriculum reinforces and reproduces cisheteronormativitiy. This increasing moral panic over trans people is rooted in the misappropriation of biological terms. The undergraduate biology curriculum prepares future scientists and non-majors, including pre-service teachers, and is positioned to challenge scientific misinformation. As part of a larger study, this working paper focuses on how undergraduate biology faculty consider their role in presenting social context to scientific content. Specifically, how faculty reinforce or resist cisheteronormativitiy as the only normal and valid human identity.

Author

• Michelle Marie Frack, Ball State University