BSCS Science Learning has a long history and deep connection with CC. Originally started at CU Boulder, the organization moved and was located on the CC campus from 1982 to 1994. During that time, BSCS developed the instructional model that became the global standard for science curriculum. In 1994, it moved to a location off campus but has remained in Colorado Springs and welcomed a constant flow of CC grads to its accomplished list of staff and researchers.
Most recently, that list includes four CC alums on the organization’s Humane Genetics team who are the authors of two papers published in the February 2024 issue of Science. The first paper, “Humane genomics can reduce racism,” was authored by a team led by Brian Donovan ’01 and included Monica Weindling ’17, Awais Syed ’20, and Brae Salazar ’18. The second, “Sex and gender essentialism in textbooks,” was authored by lead Donovan and a team including Weindling and Syed.
After graduating from CC, Donovan attended graduate school at Stanford and began to explore how kids were learning about race in their biology curriculum. His line of research now looks at how genetics education affects social cognition, with beliefs about race and gender being just two aspects of that.
“My first research project looked at how that affected kids’ beliefs about racial disparities,” says Donovan. “Different groups get different diseases, which is how the curriculum talks about it. Does that lead kids to believe that all racial disparities in society boil down to genes? The field experiments I did showed that that was happening and it was what was driving kids to develop inaccurate views about how different people are from different groups. They were overestimating the amount of difference between races. And they were underestimating the amount of difference among people of the same race.”
This led to his work at BSCS and the studies that produced these two papers.
“We I ran a study in 2016 testing out the hypothesis that if we teach kids about patterns of genetic variation, we can reduce this likelihood to explain all racial disparities with genes,” says Donovan. “That served as a pilot study for an NSF grant that I got and then Monica came on and she and I ran a series of studies testing that hypothesis more carefully. We published that work in 2019,” says Donovan.
“This paper is the culmination of the final experiment of the original grant I was hired onto,” says Weindling, who was the lab lead on the first paper. Weindling graduated from CC with distinction in Psychology. Her thesis focused on mindsets in youth athletics. When she saw the job listing with BSCS for a research associate exploring how students learn about genetics and what that means for their ideas about race, she knew it was a great fit for her. This paper highlights the work that initially drew her to the organization.
In the paper, the team notes that “our understanding of inheritance has moved far beyond Mendel, and insights from genomics refute the prejudiced idea that racial inequality is determined by genes. Even so, many believe that inequality is genetic because they are biased by an inaccurate conception of race called ‘genetic essentialism’.” They argue that if classroom instruction moves beyond the initial ideas of Gregor Mendel, the nineteenth century biologist recognized at the founder of genetics science, and focus more on what they call “humane genomics education,” this would lead to a better, more scientific understanding among students about race and its societal construction.
“Essentialist beliefs are socially dangerous and a biological misconception,” the paper states. “Contrary to what genetic essentialism predicts, there are no gene variants—including SCA and CF alleles—that most individuals in one race possess and no individuals in another race possess. Yet instruction on SCA and CF genotypes in Black and white populations leads students to develop this perception. This perception then facilitates an increase in the belief that genes determine racial disparities (e.g., in educational attainment).”
The second published paper, “Sex and gender essentialism in textbooks,” explores how assumptions about the genetic basis of sex and gender lead to stereotyping and discrimination. It’s the first publication of a new line of research and funding for the organization, exploring the relationship between genetics education and sex and gender essentialism.
“We found through an analysis of popular high school biology textbooks that when genetics is discussed with regard to sex and gender, which textbooks fail to distinguish between, they often reinforce essentialist concepts of sex/gender, which we know to be biologically inaccurate,” says Weindling. “This is setting us up to develop a new curriculum, very similar to the one we have developed for breaking down genetic essentialism of race.”
The paper argues that, while a significant percentage of US adults attribute sex and gender differences to genetics, these beliefs stem from “an explanatory bias toward inherent causes and the social and cultural input to which children are exposed” and not actual science. The paper explores the non-binary nature of biological sex as well as the social construction of binary gender. It states that “although sex (a biological phenomenon) and gender (a sociocultural phenomenon) are carefully distinguished among biologists who study these phenomena, this distinction is often absent in public discourse, where sex and gender are typically conflated. If biology textbooks also conflate the two phenomena, they would be giving voice and lending authority to an uninformed lay view that is out of step with well-established scientific knowledge.” Once again, the group found that high school textbooks promoted these essentialist beliefs when it comes to sex and gender.
“We’re talking about science being used to inform social issues,” says Syed, who was the lab lead on the second paper. “Both of these papers have whole sections on the implications and societal impact of essentialism. That was one of the coolest things for me working as a younger researcher on these projects. It really informed what I’m planning to do in the future. I want to make an impact and make these changes.”
Syed, who came to CC from Pakistan, graduated with a degree in Political Science and knew from very early on in his college years that he was very interested in education, particularly education equity.
“I was always really interested in issues of education, equity, and the differences in education that you see around the globe. When I was graduating college, I was interested in education research because I wanted to continue on in academia,” he says. “I became really interested in how curriculum can affect students’ beliefs, especially our beliefs that inform how we look at other people and groups of people in the world. I think the curriculum and what we teach has a lot of implications for education policy.”
When it comes to the outcomes for these papers and what the team would like to see grow from them, the main idea is deep reform of our country’s science curriculum.
“I’d love to see genetics education in the United States change so that questions about human difference and human identity are addressed in a socially responsible way by genetics educators,” says Donovan. “There’s lots of evidence that secondary school students find learning about humans to be the most interesting thing. We’re missing out on an opportunity to draw kids into the STEM pipeline and to learn biology by addressing the questions that they have about human difference. We’re missing out on an opportunity to reduce the prevalence of some racist and sexist beliefs in society. And we’re missing an opportunity to help kids understand the complexity of inherit and modern genomics research. The curriculum that we teach right now is by and large, what we have been teaching students since the 1920s. And a lot of the stuff even in the 1920s, we knew to be inaccurate. It’s a missed opportunity to update our curriculum and help kids understand inheritance as actual practicing scientists understand it now.”
The team acknowledges that before any of these changes can really occur, there has to be a change in the standards because these are what drive curriculum development in the U.S. and they are what drive instruction in classrooms and teacher education.
“What we’re trying to do is start a conversation among geneticists and genetics educators and the science education community about how we should be teaching human identity in the biology classroom,” says Donovan. “When we move on from this generation of science standards to whatever the next version is going to be, then maybe we’ll get a seat at the table and be able to shift the standards in a direction that we think is more beneficial to students. And if that happens, then textbooks and everything else will come in line.”
The team does attribute some of their success to the benefits of the CC community working together and the power of the Tiger alumni network.
“Brian was and probably will continue to be my big picture mentor when it comes to where I want to go into research and wanting to be involved in education,” says Syed. “And Monica is what I like to call my day-to-day mentor on how to do the job.”
“I’ve read a lot of applications for jobs and interviewed a lot of people and what’s always stood out to me about CC students is just the quality of their writing, the clarity of their thinking, and their concern about broader social issues. I know that they’re going to learn super quick because they went through the Block Plan,” says Donovan. “I don’t want to say that it’s created a bias because I certainly have worked with plenty of people who didn’t go to CC who are capable of doing all those things, but it certainly lends confidence when you’re making a decision about bringing someone on to an interdisciplinary kind of project that’s going to involve learning things really quickly and mastering new subjects really quickly. There’s something about the Block Plan and to the liberal arts education that CC provides that just sets people up for success.”
The team has also tapped into the CC connection with current faculty being mentors and advisors. These faculty have also opened the door to BSCS working with current CC students. Dr. Sara Hanson, Associate Professor in the Molecular Biology department, served as an advisor on their work on gender. She was also an advisor for their grant work and has even implemented materials that they co-designed in her CC courses. The team has also partnered with Dr. Olivia Hatton, Associate Professor in the Molecular Biology department, both in introducing her students to the work of genetics education as well as hosting a workshop for the class looking at how language in scientific articles can work to promote or combat genetic determinism.
Want to continue the CC connection? The Humane Genetics team is currently looking for teachers who are interested in being part of their research. They still have a few studies running that we would love to have more participants for them.
“The best way to support us is to be a teacher who is willing to take part in our studies and move it forward in your school, district, or college,” Donovan says.
Are you a CC alum working as a high school teacher who’s interested in participating? Learn more about how you can help »