A Novel Undergraduate Seminar Course Celebrating Scientific Contributions by Scientists from Historically Marginalized Communities

Abstract

ABSTRACT Scientific contributions by members from historically marginalized communities (HMCs) have been largely ignored, uncredited, and in some cases erased from history. This has contributed to science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) curricula lacking diversity. In this study, we present an Honors seminar course aimed to highlight the discoveries of scientists from HMCs, centered around reading primary literature in a way that builds our students' research skills. The course provides students with opportunities for active learning, skill building, and mentorship that are key for persistence of students in the STEM “leaky pipeline.” Students also read biographies of scientists from HMCs, interact with guest speakers, and choose scientists to highlight (in final papers and presentations) and publicize (through the creation of Wikipedia pages). Additionally, students use community-building methodologies to build a safe classroom and gain tools to have conversations about diversity, inequities, and intersectionality in STEM. In self-reporting surveys, 93.7% of students strongly agreed that their appreciation for marginalized scientists increased and 92.6% reported that the course met very well the goal of refining their research skills. These findings support the effectiveness of this novel course. We provide two lists (one of 137 scientists and one of 57 scientist biographies) that will allow faculty teaching a wide range of science classes to select examples of scientists and discoveries to highlight in their courses. This course represents a novel platform to diversify STEM curricula while engaging and empowering students from historically marginalized communities.

Keywords

• diversifying STEM curricula
• historically marginalized communities
• reading primary literature
• diversity in STEM
• diverse scientists
• diversity equity and inclusion (DEI)