Addressing barriers to inclusive teaching

Strategy 1: Many in the field would push back against this idea: humans select the research questions, propose the theoretical model, select/design the variables, make many decisions about data aggregation and model selection, and interpret the findings; biases can occur in each one of these. It could be useful to survey current critiques of the methods we use/ that were used in the research you cover [e.g., the quant crit movement]. 

• Van Dusen, B., & Nissen, J. (2021). Tenets of QuantCrit. arXiv preprint arXiv:2110.12871. 

• Suzuki, S., Morris, S. L., & Johnson, S. K. (2021). Using QuantCrit to advance an anti-racist developmental science: applications to mixture modeling. Journal of Adolescent Research, 36(5), 535-560. 

• Garcia, N. M., López, N., & Vélez, V. N. (2018). QuantCrit: Rectifying quantitative methods through critical race theory. Race Ethnicity and Education, 21(2), 149-157. 

Strategy 2:  There are plenty of ways in which discussions of a methodology improve conceptual understanding of the methodology through addressing the history (or continued patterns) of marginalization (e.g., construct validity, predictive validity, mediation vs. moderation). Address this with a note about some of this history, potentially motivated by some of the examples on our teaching shared drive (e.g., we frequently use the statistical approaches developed by Pearson and Fisher, despite their support for White Supremacy and Eugenics). 

Strategy 1: Adding a note about some of this history should not take much class time. Many of the methods that we use have complex histories and connected sociopolitical associations (see previous challenge on objectivity of stats/methods) which a number of your students will already know; not addressing these topics will be salient to them and a barrier to their engaging with the materials. 

Strategy 2: Shift some of the examples you include in illustrating methods to involve some of the controversial historical examples so that you can continue your coverage while also addressing the challenges.

Strategy 1: Cover the research while directly addressing concerns about representativeness and acknowledging its shortcomings, while still describing its importance to the field. 

Strategy 2: Consider describing the canon paper quickly, then diving more deeply into more recent work by a scholar of color/from a marginalized community.

Strategy 3: Consider addressing the classic research topics with more recent, representative work.

Strategy 4: Do an internet search to see if: (1) any BIPOC scholars were involved in the initial discoveries but ignored in the mainstream record, or (2) the classic research has been critiqued or shown to not hold universally.

Strategy 1: Explore recent critiques about W.E.I.R.D. [Western-Educated-Industrialized-Rich-Democracies] samples and how these samples make up the preponderance of our knowledge in psychological science; See “The weirdest people in the world?” by Henrich, Heine, & Norenzayan (2010) discussing the generalizability of psychological research in different domains (including biology). Help students understand how often neuroscience and biopsychology have biases in samples (by gender, race/ethnicity, handness, SES) that could limit generalizability.

Strategy 2: Help students understand that core psychological/biological models are used to theorize about causes and impacts of marginalization without ever having validated the model on marginalized groups. It is likely a topic of interest that might spur future research they conduct.

Strategy 3: Discuss the way that many psychological (AND biological) studies make assumptions about language or culture, or use stimuli that are non-representative (e.g., Ekman’s work in the 1970s on “universal” facial expressions were all white individuals) and the ways in which that could shape generalizability and interpretations of variation by demographic variables.

Strategy 1: Address the complexity within the individual differences theme that appears in most areas of psychology 

Strategy 2: Take this as an opportunity to teach your class about the nature of science: ideas, knowledge, and take-aways change as new data is collected and new interpretations are offered.

Strategy 1: Realize that exclusion can happen for many reasons. Consider adding an anonymous survey (using paper, canvas or other tools) early on in the course and probe for specific information on the topic. Position yourself to learn from students and include topics that are of interest to them in future semesters.

Strategy 2: Consider examining intersectional identities that expand on the great content you already have (e.g., for a topic involving the psychological experience of Latinx individuals, is the experience the same for Latina and Latino individuals?)

Strategy 1: It is possible to significantly increase the inclusiveness of your course by making changes to the way you talk about topics in class and the topics you choose to present.

Strategy 2: Rather than implementing the strategy during the lecture, make use of canvas: e.g.. small-group discussion-board questions with clearly posted discussion norms that support interest-based conversations around inclusivity (e.g., required course components that are not graded for correctness; there are tools that automatically grade for participation)

Strategy 3: Consider adding elements of Mindset-Belongingness Interventions implemented here at Pitt by Kevin Binning and colleagues in large lecture classes; part of just one class session can have large effects, and versions are being deployed in large courses in many disciplines. Simple activity scripts used for delivering this intervention are located here: https://osf.io/p5w4j

Strategy 1: Consider that we all must share the task of addressing these topics. It is unfair to ask only faculty of color (or faculty of any identity that is rare among faculty) to address these topics in addition to covering  core content. Numerically, it is likely that some students with those identities will never have an instructor with the same identity.

Strategy 2: Gradually  learn from students about their interests related to your class (“What are some of the questions you still have?”), giving yourself time to find related research and resources, and then address some of these topics in future semesters. 

Strategy 1: Explicitly note that this was how research was commonly conducted in the past. However, note that >5% of young adults in the U.S. say their gender is different from their sex assigned at birth (study link; visualization tool). Underscore that this is still an open area/question for most research areas (i.e., if trans/non-binary people are similar to cis-gender people with respect to particular phenomena). 

Strategy 2: Use this as an opportunity to note why research has focused on sex-at-birth. For example: 1) underappreciation of percentage of population that identifies as trans/non-binary; 2) challenges in statistical methods with low Ns (unless massive oversampling during data collection)

Strategy 1: Consider examining the “BIPOC-authored Psychology Papers” google spreadsheet (developed by Dr. Erica Wojcik)– This is intended for use by instructors of undergraduate/graduate-level psychology courses to help diversify their syllabi

Strategy 2: Reach out to others who do research or teach in the area to see if they know of research by diverse scholars that you might not know about.

Strategy 3: If you really cannot find research by diverse scholars, address this directly with your students to set the context for the research you will cover.

Strategy 1: Consider examining the “BIPOC-authored Psychology Papers” google spreadsheet (developed by Dr. Erica Wojcik)– some of these references also address diversity, culture or minoritization

Strategy 2: Reach out to others who do research or teach in the area to see if they know of research by diverse scholars that you might not know about.

Strategy 1: Consider supplementing what is covered in the textbook with additional research by scholars of color/from marginalized communities. These could be assigned as additional readings, or simply covered in lecture.  For reading suggestions, see “BIPOC-authored Psychology Papers” google spreadsheet (developed by Dr. Erica Wojcik)

Strategy 2: Consider replacing a chapter or portions of the textbook with a reading that takes a more inclusive perspective; you could focus the replacement strategy on a chapter or part of a chapter that you are particularly unhappy about (either in terms of what is covered or how it is described). 

Strategy 1: Two core aspects of inclusive pedagogy are to allow for multiple forms of participation and to allow for personalization of topics (e.g., in the form of selecting among readings, project topics); this will likely improve effectiveness of other strategies across variation within your students.

Strategy 2: More specifically to the topic of DEI content, consider multiple ways for students to process and understand issues related to diversity, equity, and inclusion. This could include: videos (there’s lots on YouTube), reading, message-board discussions, etc. 

Strategy 1: Consider that exclusion can happen for many different reasons and your great past efforts cannot guarantee success for each and every one of your students.

Strategy 2: Review and consider adding elements of Mindset-Belongingness Interventions implemented here at Pitt by Kevin Binning and colleagues; part of just one class session can have large effects, and versions are being deployed in both undergraduate and graduate courses in many disciplines. Simple activity scripts used for delivering this intervention are located here: https://osf.io/p5w4j

Strategy 3: Exclusion can happen for many reasons, so your great past efforts cannot guarantee success for each and every one of your students. To avoid surprises at the end of the course, consider adding an anonymous survey (using paper, canvas or other tools) early on in the course and probe for specific information on the topic (i.e., what experiences contributed to that feeling); such details will be useful in customizing the mindset-belongingness intervention to your class in addition to pointing out elements of your class that you could change. 

Strategy 1: If you have very useful video clips or examples that are dated in representation or language, discuss this point explicitly, making the connection to the history of psychology being narrow.

Strategy 2: Ask about class content on a mid or end of semester survey: 1) a question about whether any of your slides or language was unintentionally offensive; 2) ask for suggestions for topics/readings to drop and new topics to add.

Strategy 3: You or a TA can look out for overly stereotyped images (e.g., dress vs. pants icon when describing gender), clips, examples. Be careful of images and stories that present groups in stereotyped/deficit ways.

Strategy 1: Start by reading and reviewing some of the DEI articles and resources suggested by colleagues (these include a short Nature article“Science must overcome its racist legacy”  or the classic book by Robert Guthrie “Even the Rat Was White: A Historical View of Psychology”

Strategy 2: Note to your class that DEI issues are important to you, but also note that many people are anxious and still grappling with these topics, including yourself and many other instructors.

Strategy 1: Let students know  these topics are challenging for many; you might make a mistake and that they might make a mistake. Explicitly underscore that complex topics require room to test out ideas and revise/grow.

Strategy 2: Avoid the two most common mistakes: 1) Do not require any students to “speak for” the identities they have (e.g., do not ask a Black-identifying student to provide that specific perspective on the current topic); 2) Do not attribute challenges to minoritized identities (e.g., Black students (inherently) have lower motivation levels, less knowledge). Instead, focus on larger structural problems (e.g., cultural stereotypes, commonly occurring micro-aggressions) that mechanistically apply to all humans but are experienced more commonly by some groups.

Strategy 1: Explain to your students that change (and learning) requires entering into a zone of discomfort and avoiding discomfort is a major barrier to change. Emphasize that everyone in class, including you, are likely to experience discomfort at some point in class.  Interestingly, this will make students more receptive to discomfort and produce greater growth (Woolley & Fishbach (2022) about “Motivating personal growth by seeking discomfort”)

Strategy 2: If relevant to your course, make a connection to psychological research on why having these conversations is challenging (e.g., social psychology research on pluralistic ignorance and the bystander effect; cognitive research on the representativeness heuristic and other decision making biases; developmental and social psychology research on peer pressure). 

Strategy 1: Start by reading DEI articles and resources suggested by colleagues who teach related courses. As a general resource: 1) the Nature article titled “Science must overcome its racist legacy” ; 2) the classic book by Robert Guthrie “Even the Rat Was White: A Historical View of Psychology”

Strategy 2: Talk to colleagues in the dept and see what they are finding to be successful. 

Strategy 3: Become aware of current critiques of a research topic or method we use/were using (e.g., the quant crit movement).

• Van Dusen, B., & Nissen, J. (2021). Tenets of QuantCrit. arXiv preprint arXiv:2110.12871. 

• Suzuki, S., Morris, S. L., & Johnson, S. K. (2021). Using QuantCrit to advance an anti-racist developmental science: applications to mixture modeling. Journal of Adolescent Research, 36(5), 535-560. 

• Garcia, N. M., López, N., & Vélez, V. N. (2018). QuantCrit: Rectifying quantitative methods through critical race theory. Race Ethnicity and Education, 21(2), 149-157. 

Strategy 1: Start with strategies and aspects of inclusion that closely connect to your assets (knowledge of research topics related to some aspects of diversity and inclusion; personal dimensions of diversity and related experiences) and great opportunities within specific parts of your course (e.g., already about individual differences; already involves outcomes that have systemic differences by some demographic factors).

Strategy 2: Increase representation in authorship diversity (race/ethnicity; gender; religion; LGBTQIA+; people with disabilities; political orientation; internationality). The “BIPOC-authored Psychology Papers” google spreadsheet (developed by Dr. Erica Wojcik) is a good resource for instructors of undergraduate/graduate-level psychology courses to help diversify their syllabi

Strategy 3: Try to work on one topic within a series of lectures; don’t expect to include many of these teaching practices all at once; aim for iterative edits over semesters.

Strategy 1: Focus on the specific practices other faculty are using to center DEI issues in their class. Some of these are likely to be useful in your course.

Strategy 2: Invest a small amount of time each semester on learning opportunities that are closely connected to teaching in psychology (e.g., come to annual sessions on this topic hosted by the Teaching Program).

Strategy 3: When you are learning about new research findings (i.e. at conferences or skimming journals’ tables of contents), make note of work that might be relevant to your class and focuses on DEI issues or is by BIPOC scholars. Save these notes with your class materials and check them when prepping to teach the class next. 

Strategy 1: An easy-to-implement practice that can work in many courses is to add small group discussion board questions with clearly posted discussion norms that support interest-based conversations around inclusivity (e.g., required course components that are not graded for correctness; there are tools that automatically grade for participation).

Strategy 2: Blinded multi-peer assessment with a rubric is both a learning opportunity for the assessor and generates highly reliable grades; you or a TA would only need to grade a handful of documents to convert ratings into grades.

Strategy 3: See what other colleagues in the department are finding success in a similar kind of course 

Strategy 1: These practices  are not a checklist that must be applied to every class; the value of each practice will depend upon its fit to your class and how you implement it. Choose strategies and course changes that fit you and your pedagogical philosophy. 

Strategy 2: Read some examples or talk to colleagues about how the practices have been integrated into psychology classes; they may seem less superficial once you’ve seen them implemented.

Strategy 1:  Explain to your students that change (and learning) requires entering into a zone of discomfort and avoiding discomfort is a major barrier to change. Emphasize that everyone in class, including you, are likely to experience discomfort at some point in class. Interestingly, this will make students more receptive to discomfort and produce greater growth (Woolley & Fishbach (2022) about “Motivating personal growth by seeking discomfort”)

Strategy 2: If relevant to your course, make a connection to psychological research on why having these conversations is challenging (e.g., social psychology research on pluralistic ignorance and the bystander effect; cognitive research on the representativeness heuristic and other decision making biases; developmental and social psychology research on peer pressure).

Strategy 1: Have students make a name tent that they always put on their desks; ask them for their name when they do not bring their name tent.