Inclusive Science Teaching: Enriching and scaling up a workshop for teachers
This project is a follow-up to a currently running USO project, “Diversity awareness training for teachers of the Faculty of Science.” In this project, a new workshop for Inclusive Science Teaching was designed, piloted and run with teachers from the Faculty of Science. In the workshop, using an innovative discussion-based educational approach, teachers consider how students might experience teaching practices as exclusive, and devise concrete steps for working towards making science education more inclusive for all.
Background
As participant feedback from the pilot workshops was positive, we wish to offer the workshop more widely within the Faculty of Science in a follow-up project. This project will improve the design of the workshop, collecting more data on student experiences through focus groups, and developing a feedback mechanism for evaluating participant experiences. Alongside the development of the workshop, we will create resources to support science teachers who are interested in making their teaching more inclusive through the development of an online platform containing resources, teacher and student testimonies and information about the homework tasks participants have completed as part of the workshop. Additionally, to strengthen the community of practice, teachers will also have the possibility to join quarterly Q&A sessions, a safe space for discussing topics related to Inclusive Science Teaching.
Project description
- May – June 2022. Workshop cycle 1. Use feedback from sessions to improve workshop design. Collect participant experiences (videos/testimonies) to share on the website. Plan in sessions and start recruiting participants for future workshops (e.g., during Faculty day).
- June – September 2022. Build an online platform for the teacher community and add relevant resources to it. Formulate evaluation criteria for workshop success.
- September – November 2022. Workshop cycle 2. Test formulated evaluation of workshop success. Start recruitment process for the focus groups with students from the Faculty of Science and conduct focus groups. Analyse and process findings to adapt the two-part workshop. Advertise and host Q&A session in November.
- November – December 2022. Workshop cycle 3. Improve evaluation based on testing. Finalise incorporation of findings from focus groups into workshop content.
- January – February 2023. Iteratively improve two-part workshop through feedback from previous sessions. Present in special interest groups, the education fair (onderwijsparade), and the strengthen your education week. Start writing publication about this project. Advertise and host Q&A session in February.
- February – March 2023. Workshop cycle 4. Disseminate project to raise awareness and collect input.
- March – April 2023. Incorporate into BKO/SKO track. Finalise publication about this project. Advertise and host Q&A session in April.
Figure 1. Project timeline (timeline deviates from description above due to unforeseen circumstances)
Aims
The first objective is increasing awareness regarding EDI within the university, and an activity to achieve this objective is through training programs. Additionally, the ambition of the Faculty of Science as per the 2025 strategic plan is to build a diverse, inclusive and open community as well as to improve their education through student participation. This project would align with both objectives. The two-part workshop is built around the vision of having students as partners and aims to incorporate the findings from focus groups with students from the faculty.
This project is also aligned with existing EDI initiatives in other faculties and will incorporate resources from the USO Inclusive Curriculum and Learning Environment project.
Results
The proposed project is a follow-up to a current USO project in which a workshop for Inclusive Science Teaching, comprising two 2-hour sessions over four weeks, with a homework task in between, was piloted with teachers from the Faculty of Science.
In this proposed sequel project we will:
- Offer the two-part Inclusive Science Teaching workshop to a wider group of members of the Faculty of Science, with four sessions over the year.
- Develop a mechanism to evaluate workshop effect and success (e.g., systematised feedback system) and use this to iteratively improve the workshop.
- Broaden case studies used in workshop by conducting formal focus groups with students, and incorporate these into the workshop.
- Create and share resources to support all teachers within the Faculty of Science.
- Offer quarterly Q&A sessions where teachers come together to share their concerns, questions, share resources, experiences and discuss news or publications around the topic of Inclusive Science Teaching.
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