Supporting physics teaching with research-based resources

These quick tips from the Faculty Teaching Institute can help make your class more inclusive.

Instructor self-reflection

Reflect on your own identity and positionality, and how this might impact your teaching. Educate yourself about other identities. Try https://www.inclusivestemteaching.org/

Assume that all students are capable. Value that each individual student brings their own unique viewpoint and contributions to your class. Examine negative assumptions you may hold about some groups of students; reframe your assumptions to be more encouraging and compassionate.

Course design

Explicitly communicate your expectations to your students so that all know how to succeed. Tell students your student learning outcomes, grading criteria, and expectations for participation in class. You may share examples of excellent student work, such as problem set solutions.

Create structure and communicate it to students explicitly to support effective engagement and mitigate unfairness. Tell students how to participate and succeed in your course. For example, give clear instructions on your slides, provide guided reading questions, assign students partners and roles in group work, and tell students a few different ways they may ask you a question (raise hand, send an email, attend help sessions, etc).

Apply Universal Design for Learning, such as multiple representations of the material, clear organization of the content, and digital accessibility options. Connect with the campus Accessibility Office or visit http://udloncampus.cast.org/home.

Plan partner or group activities to give students time to process and practice with peers (especially before whole-class discussion).

Create ground rules such as sharing discussion time and engaging in respectful discourse, to support a positive class climate. Revisit these over the semester. The STEP UP Guidelines poster is a valuable resource. For example, tell students “All ideas shared in class will be treated respectfully.” Include consequences for breaking ground rules, with an expectation that this will not come up.

Review your pedagogical choices for impact on students. Are you assuming a certain background or context with your examples or assignments? Ask yourself, “Who is being left behind? How can I invite them in?”

In-class practices

Use warm, friendly language in your syllabi, emails, assignments, feedback, and lecture. The way you communicate with students has a large impact on their feeling of inclusion and comfort.

Use students’ names by learning names or using a class roster so that students feel like they belong and are cared for. Ask if you have pronounced their name correctly, and tell them how to pronounce yours.

Consider sharing your pronouns, and inviting students to share theirs (but don’t require them to).

Make personal connections with your students. Chat with them before or after class, use icebreakers, and encourage students to come to office hours (“free help sessions!”). Get to know your students as people.

Help students feel they belong, and explicitly say that all students can succeed in your class. Let students know “you all belong here” in this class or discipline, that you believe all students can succeed, and you are committed to helping them succeed. Support a growth mindset for students, reminding them that learning and improving is ongoing.

Give assurance along with critical feedback. Hold all students to high standards, but to mitigate challenges faced by students who hold marginalized identities, tell why you’re giving that feedback and that you have faith in them. For example, “I see you’ve taken this task seriously. I’m honoring your effort by giving some comments to help you improve. Please know that I’m taking the time to give you this feedback because I know you are capable.”

Connect students to one another. Group work creates student networks, increasing both belonging and peer support. On the first day you might ask students to exchange contact information with students sitting near them.

Additional practices

• Tell students you care about equity and inclusion and let them know what you are doing to help all students succeed. The Underrepresentation Curriculum and STEP UP projects have relevant materials.
• Encourage all students to actively participate in class, giving opportunities to share and discuss even if they need additional time or are shy. Explicitly welcome and value varied perspectives.
• Address problematic behavior in class. If students break the ground rules or are disrespectful towards classmates (or the instructor) -- in particular if they use language that is racist, sexist, homophobic, or promotes oppression against any other marginalized group -- address this behavior explicitly and sensitively, in a way that is aligned with your ground rules and unlikely to cause more harm. If you make a mistake, apologize, own the impact, and take steps to repair any harm.
• Use diverse examples of scientists who have contributed to our knowledge of physics and astronomy, including highlighting those from marginalized identities. The Underrepresentation Curriculum and STEP UP projects have relevant materials.
• Consider a “belonging intervention.” A short in-class task (like essay writing) can have an outsized impact on students’ sense of belonging. Many such interventions are available online.
• Discuss your own journey. You can share setbacks and challenges that you overcame in your own work to show that success doesn’t always come easily. Note, however, that vulnerability can backfire for women and minority faculty who must work harder than their counterparts to demonstrate credibility.
• Give students choice in assignments. This gives them the chance to show what they know in a way that works best for them. For example, they might choose the topic or format of a paper.
• Use other productive classroom practices from the FTI such as frequent formative feedback, equitable grading strategies, supportive whole-class discussion, positive first-day practices, and opportunities for students to give you anonymous feedback. These effective strategies are all also aligned with inclusive teaching.

This Expert Recommendation was based in part on: K. Hogan & V. Sathy, Inclusive Teaching: Strategies for promoting equity in the classroom (West Virginia University Press, 2022), M. Lovett, M. Bridges, M. DiPietro, S. Ambrose & M. Norman, How Learning Works: 8 Research-Based Principles for Smart Teaching (2nd ed.) (Jossey-Bass, 2023), and K.D. Tanner, Structure Matters: Twenty-one teaching strategies to promote student engagement and cultivate classroom equity, CBE-Life Sciences Education 12, (2013).