Whether the curriculum is virtual or in person, often the instructor is a white, cisgender man, lecturing to a large class of perhaps 100 or more students.
In the textbook, you likely see equations, diagrams, figures of chemical structures or reactions. Most likely the photographs dotting the pages — as well as the attributions for the laws, equations and reactions — belong to white men.
For a student who does not fit that scientist stereotype, an introductory college science class can be a disappointing reality check. When instructors and textbooks alike show the same images that have been ingrained by society, many students receive the message that they do not belong. This initial impression is crucial, because at this point students are assessing the viability of their career choices and forging their adult identities.
The overwhelming majority of names and images in textbooks belonged to cisgender men in a classic 1991 analysis of high school chemistry textbooks for gender representation. Nearly 30 years later, a meta-analysis of 78 studies showed the majority of student drawings of scientists still CONTINUE READING: OPINION: Why it’s time to diversify and modernize science teaching - The Hechinger Report