Inclusive Teaching

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What Is Inclusive Teaching?

Inclusive teaching is the essential foundation of all aspects of the learning experience. Student populations are becoming more diverse and bring experiences to the classroom that benefit all learners. Educators seeking to create inclusive learning environments will find resources through the Center for Physiology Education that promote inclusive teaching and content delivery strategies, and advance student skill development.

Resources to Explore

Create an Inclusive Classroom
Explore and incorporate classroom strategies and approaches that are equitable and inclusive.

Background & Theory

Achieving STEM Diversity: Fix the Classrooms
Handelsman J., et al., Science, 2022

Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experiences Can Make Scientific Research More Inclusive
Bangera G., Brownell S.E., CBE-Life Sciences Education, 2017

Coming out in STEM: Factors Affecting Retention of Sexual Minority STEM Students
Hughes B.E., Science Advances, 2018

Evidence-based Teaching Guides: Inclusive Teaching
Dewsbury B., Brame C., CBE-Life Sciences Education, 2019

Race Matters
Asai D., Cell, 2020

Striving Towards Inclusion in Academic Biology
SABER Recorded Webinar Series, 2021-2022

Disability and Invisibility in STEM Education
Schneiderwind J., Johnson J., Journal of Higher Education Theory and Practice, 2020

Learners With Disabilities: An Important Component of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Medical Education
Golden R., Petty E., Academic Medicine, 2022

Inclusive Practices for Diverse Student Populations
Johnson K., et al., Advances in Physiology Education, 2019

Key Equity Terms and Concepts: A Glossary for Shared Understanding
Center for the Study of Social Policy, September 2019

Moving Research into Practice

(En)gauging Self: Toward a Practical Framework for Race Talk
Murray-Johnson K., Adult Learning, 2018

The Universal Design for Learning Framework
CAST, 2018

A Tool to Advance Inclusive Teaching Efforts: The “Who’s in Class?” Form
Addy T.M., et al., JMBE, 2021

Gender-Inclusive Biology
2022

Advancing Equity in STEM: The Impact Assessment Design Has on Who Succeeds in Undergraduate Introductory Chemistry
Ralph V.R., et al., JACS Au, 2022

How to Make Your Teaching More Inclusive
Sathy V., Hogan K., The Chronicle of Higher Education, 2021

Structure Matters: Twenty-One Teaching Strategies to Promote Student Engagement and Cultivate Classroom Equity
Tanner K., CBE-Life Sciences Education, 2013

Getting Under the Hood: How and for Whom Does Increasing Course Structure Work?
Eddy S., Hogan K., CBE-Life Sciences Education, 2014

Inclusive Pedagogy Toolkit
CNDLS, Georgetown University, 2022

Fourteen Recommendations to Create a More Inclusive Environment for LGBTQ+ Individuals in Academic Biology
Cooper, et al., CBE-Life Sciences Education, 2020

It’s in the Syllabus … or Is It? How Biology Syllabi Can Serve as Communication Tools for Creating Inclusive Classrooms at a Large-Enrollment Research Institution
Gin L., et al., Advances in Physiology Education, 2020

First-Day Info Sheets: A Tool to Prompt Semester-Long Inclusive Teaching
Killpack T., Melón L., JMBE, 2020

PULSE Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Rubric
Partnership for Undergraduate Life Sciences Education (PULSE) Rubric Collection, 2022

Implementing Inclusive Practices in an Active Learning STEM Classroom
Johnson K., Advances in Physiology Education, 2019

Structuring Courses for Equity
Hocker A., Vandergrift E., CourseSource, 2019

Lived Experiences

“It’s Completely Erasure”: A Qualitative Exploration of Experiences of Transgender, Nonbinary, Gender Nonconforming, and Questioning Students in Biology Courses
Casper A.M.A., et al., CBE-Life Sciences Education, 2022

Hidden Curriculum Podcast
S.E.A.S. Program at URI, 2019

Cultural Competence
Teaching in Higher Ed Podcast Collection, 2022

LGBT+ Faculty and Students in STEM: Heteronormativity, Exclusion, and Isolation
Barthelemy R., ARC Network Report, 2022

The Disruptor
AAAS-IUES Blog, 2022

Do I Belong Here?
Montague C., The Physiologist Magazine, 2021

Incorporate Diverse Perspectives
Elevate and amplify diverse perspectives to enhance students’ sense of belonging and promote varied experiences that inform innovation.

Background & Theory

Revealing the Queer-spectrum in STEM Through Robust Demographic Data Collection in Undergraduate Engineering and Computer Science Courses at Four Institutions
Casper A.M.A., et al., PLOS ONE, 2022

Striving Towards Inclusion in Academic Biology
SABER Recorded Webinar Series, 2021-2022

Learners With Disabilities: An Important Component of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Medical Education
Golden R., Petty E., Academic Medicine, 2022

Supporting Equity and Inclusion of Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Individuals in Professional Organizations
Huyck J., et al., Frontiers in Education, 2021

Roundtable on Black Men and Black Women in Science, Engineering, and Medicine
National Academies, 2022

Who Perceives They Are Smarter? Exploring the Influence of Student Characteristics on Student Academic Self-concept in Physiology
Cooper, et al., Advances in Physiology Education, 2018

Moving Research into Practice

Scientist Spotlights Initiative
NIH-funded Scientist Profile Collection, 2022

In a “Scientist Spotlight” Intervention, Diverse Student Identities Matter
Yonas A., et al., JMBE, 2013

A Student-Led Hearing on the Use of HeLa Cells in Research
Stearns J., et al., CourseSource, 2021

Challenges facing LGBTQ+ Early-career Scientists and How to Engage in Changing the Status Quo
Field S., Rajewski A., The Plant Cell, 2021

Lived Experiences

Unveiling Concealable Stigmatized Identities in Class: The Impact of an Instructor Revealing Her LGBTQ+ Identity to Students in a Large-Enrollment Biology Course
Busch C.A., et al., CBE-Life Sciences Education, 2022

Cultural Competence
Teaching in Higher Ed Podcast Collection, 2022

Coming Out to the Class: Identifying Factors that Influence College Biology Instructor Decisions about Revealing their LGBQ Identities in Class
Cooper K., et al., Journal of Women and Minorities in Science and Engineering, 2019

Normalizing Disability Begins in School
Watson M., TEDx Talk, 2021

SACNAS Biography Project
Scientist Profile Collection, 2022

#UniqueScientists
Scientist Profile Collection, 2022

The Story Collider: True, Personal Stories about Science
Podcast Collection, 2022

Being Black in Science
The Physiologist Magazine, 2021

Human Cells, Not Prison Cells
Boerner H., The Physiologist Magazine, 2020

Recognize Physiological Variations and Address Health Disparities
Use the classroom as a forum to investigate and interrogate varied health outcomes among different patient populations.

Background & Theory

AAMC Anti-racism Education Collection
MedEdPORTAL Collection, 2023

NCHHSTP Social Determinants of Health
CDC/NCHHSTP, 2023

Differences in Ideal Cardiovascular Health Between Sexual Minority and Heterosexual Adults
Caceres B.A., et al., JAMA Cardiology, 2023

A Biopsychosocial Framework for Understanding Sexual and Gender Minority Health: A Call for Action
Christian L.M., et al., Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 2021

Misrepresenting Race—The Role of Medical Schools in Propagating Physician Bias
Amutah C., et al., The New England Journal of Medicine,2021

AAMC Diversity, Inclusion, and Health Equity Collection
MedEdPORTAL Collection, 2022

Moving Research into Practice

Leveraging Undergraduate Research to Identify Culturally Relevant Examples in the Anatomy and Physiology Curriculum
Favero T.G., Van Hoomissen J.D., Advances in Physiology Education, 2019

Introduction to Sex and Gender: Core Concepts for Health-Related Research
NIH, 2022

Teaching Cancer Biology Through a Lens of Social Justice
Mera Y., Wiggins B., CourseSource, 2021

Air Quality Data Mining: Mining the U.S. EPA AirData Website for Student-led Evaluation of Air Quality Issues
Williams A., et al., CourseSource, 2015

Resources for Health Care Providers
UCSF School of Medicine, 2021

Lived Experiences

Uncared For
Pak S., Commonwealth Fund, 2023

Changing How Race Is Portrayed in Medical Education: Recommendations From Medical Students
Nieblas-Bedolla E., et al., Academic Medicine, 2020
The Gender Gap
Yu C., The Physiologist Magazine, 2021