Actively Reducing Inequality in the Classroom

Actively Reducing Inequality Classroom in the

By Kylie Brown

Photo by Rosmarie Voegtli. [CC-BY-2.0]

Adiverse student body represents a significant part of the appeal of a college campus. People from all over the world gather at universities to interact and exchange ideas, experiences, and beliefs. When such a variety of individuals are combined together in a classroom, one would expect each one of them to learn differently. Students come from different academic backgrounds, and some will grasp the material faster than their peers. Traditional teaching methods can exacerbate these differences, promoting inequality and negatively impacting select groups of students. When students attend a typical college lecture, they receive information galore about the subject matter, but rarely receive any guidance about how to study for exams. Research shows that a self-reguDr. Kelly Hogan lated approach to learning, where material is learned in steady chunks instead of crammed the night before the exam, is the most effective method. However, not every student knows the correct way to study as when entering their first semester of college. Certain students enter higher education more prepared than others because of prior exposure to studying and note-taking skills. Essentially, they have been taught how learning works.2 Unfortunately, the combination of a lack of prior knowledge and systemic inequality can cause minority undergraduates to fall behind and earn failing grades. Students who earn a poor grade in an introductory course are highly unlikely to continue a major in that field, thus contributing to the underrepresentation of minorities in the STEM field.1 Dr. Kelly Hogan, a STEM Teaching Professor and the Associate Dean of Instructional Innovation for the College of Arts and Sciences at UNC Chapel

Hill, leads an ongoing movement toward inclusive teaching. The movement strives to level the playing field and ensure students of all backgrounds have an equal opportunity to participate and succeed.1 Dr.

Hogan’s research specifically focuses on implementing inclusive methods and getting the methods to

“stick”.2 Her research demonstrates how simple alterations to teaching techniques can dramatically reduce inequity in the classroom. 34

approach is to ensure that engagement with the material is not optional. Requiring students to practice both in class as well as afterward through weekly homework assignments levels the playing field. Mandatory practice benefits the students who came into college unaware of the benefits of such reinforcement to the learning process while having no negative impact on the students with prior knowledge.2 Dr. Hogan’s research also suggests that the adoption of anonymous participa-

Figure 1. Dr. Kelly Hogan teaching during one of her introductory tion in the classroom could biology courses. Photo by Travis Dove counteract barriers to engaged learning. Anxiety presTen years ago, a colleague presented Dr. Hogan ents a major barrier to learning. Therefore, students with data that broke down the grades of her intro- who are introverted, share a minority opinion, and/ ductory biology course by demographics. The data or feel unwelcome in the college classroom are unshowed a dramatic racial discrepancy and “it was likely to interact with the class via public speaking. clear there was an achievement gap.”2 1 in 14 white Anonymous participation methods include swapstudents earned either a D or an F in the course, while ping notecards containing student responses and 1 in 7 Latino students earned grades in the same the use of technology, such as web-based polling, to range.1 However, a staggering 1 in 3 black students make student responses anonymous to to the class.3 received failing grades in the course.1 Most recently, Dr. Hogan has been working to underIn order to mitigate the inequalities, Dr. Hogan stand the incentives that help institutions and faculty developed changes to the traditional teaching meth- overcome barriers to the implementation of inclusive ods used in large lecture halls. Universally effective learning practices in the classroom. Dr. Hogan hopes “to infuse this kind of inclusive mindset in everything

“the combination of a lack of prior we do in teaching.” 2 By making inclusivity a priority, knowledge and systemic inequality can cause minority undergraduates to fall professors can more effectively cultivate an equal learning environment for the wide range of students found in a modern university. behind and earn failing grades.”

learning requires a highly structured course. One way to create such structure is to break up long lectures with periods of silence.3 Asking students to sit quietly and think about a problem before turning to their neighbor to discuss allows individual students to form their own thoughts. Without this method, more outspoken students tend to share their ideas more often than quieter students, whose thoughts tend to go unvoiced or unconsidered. It can cause reserved stu-

References

dents to feel overwhelmed and left behind.3 Another

1. Supiano, Beckie. Traditional Teaching May

Deepen Inequality. Can a Different Approach Fix

It? https://www.chronicle.com/article/traditionalteaching-may-deepen-inequality-can-a-differentapproach-fix-it/ Accessed September 10th, 2020. 2. Interview with Kelly Hogan. 2/25/20. 3. Sathy, Viji and Hogan, Kelly. How to Make Your

Teaching More Inclusive. https://www.chronicle. com/article/how-to-make-your-teaching-moreinclusive/ Accessed September 10th, 2020. 35