Getting it right: teaching undergraduate biology to undermine racial essentialism

IF 2.5 Q3 BIOCHEMICAL RESEARCH METHODS
Elaine Guevara, Shyamalika Gopalan, Dashiell J Massey, Mayowa Adegboyega, Wen Zhou, Alma Solis, Alisha D Anaya, Steven E Churchill, Joseph Feldblum, Richard Lawler
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Abstract

Abstract How we teach human genetics matters for social equity. The biology curriculum appears to be a crucial locus of intervention for either reinforcing or undermining students’ racial essentialist views. The Mendelian genetic models dominating textbooks, particularly in combination with racially inflected language sometimes used when teaching about monogenic disorders, can increase middle and high school students’ racial essentialism and opposition to policies to increase equity. These findings are of particular concern given the increasing spread of racist misinformation online and misappropriation of human genomics research by white supremacists, who take advantage of low levels of genetics literacy in the general public. Encouragingly, however, teaching updated information about the geographic distribution of human genetic variation and the complex, multifactorial basis of most human traits, reduces students’ endorsement of racial essentialism. The genetics curriculum is therefore a key tool in combating misinformation and scientific racism. Here, we describe a framework and example teaching materials for teaching students key concepts in genetics, human evolutionary history, and human phenotypic variation at the undergraduate level. This framework can be flexibly applied in biology and anthropology classes and adjusted based on time availability. Our goal is to provide undergraduate-level instructors with varying levels of expertise with a set of evidence-informed tools for teaching human genetics to combat scientific racism, including an evolving set of instructional resources, as well as learning goals and pedagogical approaches instructors can apply when teaching genetics. Resources can be found at https://noto.li/YIlhZ5. Additionally, we hope to generate conversation about integrating modern genetics into the undergraduate curriculum, in light of recent findings about the risks and opportunities associated with teaching genetics.
正确的做法:教授本科生生物学以削弱种族本质论
我们如何教授人类遗传学关系到社会公平。生物课程似乎是加强或削弱学生种族本质论观点的关键干预点。孟德尔遗传模型在教科书中占主导地位,特别是在讲授单基因疾病时,有时会使用带有种族色彩的语言,这可能会增加初高中学生的种族本质主义,并反对增加公平的政策。考虑到网上种族主义错误信息的日益传播,以及白人至上主义者对人类基因组学研究的盗用,这些发现尤其令人担忧,这些白人至上主义者利用了普通公众基因知识水平较低的优势。然而,令人鼓舞的是,教授关于人类基因变异的地理分布和大多数人类特征的复杂、多因素基础的最新信息,减少了学生对种族本质主义的支持。因此,遗传学课程是打击错误信息和科学种族主义的关键工具。在这里,我们描述了一个框架和示例教材,用于在本科阶段教授学生遗传学,人类进化史和人类表型变异的关键概念。这个框架可以灵活地应用于生物学和人类学的课堂,并根据时间进行调整。我们的目标是为具有不同专业知识水平的本科水平教师提供一套基于证据的工具,用于教授人类遗传学以对抗科学种族主义,包括一套不断发展的教学资源,以及教师在教授遗传学时可以应用的学习目标和教学方法。资源可在https://noto.li/YIlhZ5上找到。此外,根据最近关于遗传学教学的风险和机会的发现,我们希望产生关于将现代遗传学纳入本科课程的对话。
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来源期刊
Biology Methods and Protocols
Biology Methods and Protocols Agricultural and Biological Sciences-Agricultural and Biological Sciences (all)
CiteScore
3.80
自引率
2.80%
发文量
28
审稿时长
19 weeks
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