Creating an Inclusive Lab

As with other disciplines, students enter laboratories and STEM classrooms with a range of learning experiences, prior knowledge, communication styles and preferences, and educational goals. Systemic inequities in the K-12 education system means that not all students enter classrooms and labs with high-quality science education or lab experiences. Given this, it can be challenging to design lab experiences and course goals that are challenging yet achievable for both novice and experienced students. Lab courses can help bridge these gaps by giving all students the opportunity to develop their skills and identities as “scientists,” which is critical for their persistence in STEM disciplines (Schinske, Perkins, Snyder, and Wyer 2016). Moreover, lab experiences present the opportunity to offer collaborative rather than competitive learning experiences. Collaborative learning experiences have been shown to have stronger positive impacts on student learning outcomes, attitudes toward learning, persistence in STEM fields, and overall course climate than learning environments that are competitive or individualistic in nature (Holland 2019; Tanner, Chatman, and Allen 2019).  

Lab courses also play a crucial role in helping students gain the skills, experience, and confidence to pursue research experiences during their undergraduate education. Independent research experiences have been shown to increase retention in STEM fields and increase interest graduate education and have become a near-requirement to secure graduate training (Bangera and Brownell, 2014). Not all students are aware of these requirements, understand the benefits of research experience, or have the financial, social, or cultural capital to secure research experiences with faculty members (such as first-generation or low-income students). In addition, unconscious biases can inform decisions on who faculty members recruit or accept as research assistants, including reliance on metrics such as GPA and prior research experience that have not been demonstrated to predict student success in undergraduate research settings (Bangera and Brownell, 2014). Because of these barriers to participation in independent research, in-class research experiences have the potential to alleviate STEM pipeline issues by increasing the inclusivity of research experiences for groups of students that are historically underrepresented in STEM disciplines (Bangera and Brownell, 2014).  

One of the challenges of lab learning is the reliance on group work, which can present administrative and interpersonal challenges for students and faculty alike. Assignment into lab groups typically happens in one of three ways: students form their own groups, are randomly assigned to groups, or are assigned to groups based on faculty-selected criteria. Students who persist in a STEM field often attribute their success to peers and study groups, so having access to these groups is critical for retaining students and helping them be successful (Holland, 2019). Allowing students to self-select into groups can result in some students being left out, especially those from historically marginalized groups or those who are represented in small numbers (for example, women of color or first-generation students). Difficulty joining peer study or lab groups can undermine these students’ sense of belonging, their ability to make helpful connections with peers, and even the sense that they belong in the field at all (Holland, 2019).   

There are myriad ways to increase the inclusivity in lab learning settings, including reconsidering the goals and assessment for labs, addressing gaps in students’ prior knowledge and/or lab experiences, proactively facilitating the assignment of students to lab groups, and the creation of collaborative, “positively interdependent” learning experiences for students.

To address lab goals and assessments:

• Explicitly discuss with students the learning goals for the labs and the skills that they will develop by engaging with the lab material. Be clear about the pathways to success and the purpose of assignments to help students with less lab or STEM experience understand how these experiences will aid their learning.  
• Offer students opportunities to practice and revise their work in ways that mirror the authentic research process. This practice reinforces a growth mindset, or the idea that knowledge and skills are developed through hard work and learning from mistakes rather than innate knowledge/skills, and that even academic researchers experience challenging learning experiences.  
• Allow students to demonstrate their knowledge in a variety of ways, including written work, presentations, lab reports, and other technical writing. Offering a variety of ways to demonstrate their learning can help students stay engaged and tap into individual students’ motivation and strengths.  
• Offer frequent low-stakes or ungraded opportunities to assess student learning and to identify those who may need additional support.

To address differences in previous science education and lab/research experiences:

• Survey students at the beginning of the course to better understand their previous experiences and any challenges they expect to face in the course. Use this information to assign students to groups, identify students who might need more support, adjust your content to address students’ learning gaps, and to get to know your students.
• Introduce basic lab techniques or offer pre-course materials for those with less exposure to, or experience with, lab research.
• Identify resources for students who may need additional support (e.g., supplementary videos, TA or faculty office hours) to reinforce the learning and skill development happening in class or their prior knowledge that may be underdeveloped or incorrect.

To address challenges in the facilitation and structure of group work: 

• Give students opportunities to learn more about each other. Ask them to share information about their majors, goals for the course, and future plans before they begin working together. This can ease academic interactions and begin to build trust between group members.
• To assign lab groups deliberately, determine what criteria you need to know about students—for example, their level of knowledge or experiences with topics in the course—and consider how to use that information to form productive groups (e.g., groups of students with a range of experience levels can learn from and support each other).
• Productive student groups are often based on the notion of “positive interdependence”; that is, students must see their individual success as dependent on the success of the others in the group. To maximize positive interdependence, assign tasks that require the insights and efforts of all group members or assign roles to individual group members (e.g., note-taker, facilitator, timekeeper) that rotate. Alternatively, you may decide to assess students based on their collective, not just individual, success (e.g., award additional points if all group members score above 90 percent on an exam) (Tanner, Chatman and Allen 2003).
• Because collaborative group experiences shift the responsibility of directing student learning to the students (within the confines of their lab tasks), this approach allows the instructor to spend in-class time observing and interacting with groups and assessing students’ learning. By intervening selectively to address content or skills-based questions, misconceptions, or gaps in understanding and by asking “have you discussed this with your group?” rather than answering every groups’ questions individually, faculty members and instructors are able to reinforce the collaborative nature of the groups (Tanner, Chatman and Allen 2003).
• Provide opportunities for lab groups to reflect on their interactions. At the end of each lab, consider asking students to reply to these questions: What behaviors from yourself or your partner(s) enhanced your experience with a particular lab and the understanding of the material? What did you do well in your group this week? 

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