Teaching the Tough Topics: Fostering Ideological Awareness through the Inclusion of Societally Impactful Topics in Introductory Biology.

ABSTRACT: While science has profound social impacts, we often teach biology as removed from societally debated issues. Here, we address this gap in biology education through the implementation of novel materials that promote ideological awareness (IA). Using mixed-method analyses, we explore students' perceptions of the relationship between science and society, as well as their attitudes toward and knowledge of IA in biology. We found students that received the IA curriculum reported relationships between science and society that aligned with the IA activities, such as providing solutions to societal problems and combating misinformation. Additionally, we discovered a preference for IA materials over a traditional curriculum, with persons excluded because of their ethnicity and race (PEERs) reportin

SUBMITTER: Beatty AE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8715773 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature