Featured Publications
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Forsythe, D., Jaswal, S. S., Dewsbury, B., McGowan, S.
To understand why this Research Topic exists, it is important to recall the original goal from our call for proposals: to reorient STEM researchers and practitioners to reconsider the actual purpose of the practice of teaching and learning. Bryan Dewsbury often invokes us in his writing and talks to understand our why. As educators, we wish to provide insights, practices, and proposed theories to reflect on our WHY in STEM education—from one instructor's empathetic approach to understanding the undergraduate student experience in gateway courses to the cultural initiation ceremonies at the disciplinary level. These components of humanism and the lens in which we see the human experience throughout a STEM ecosystem serve to bring humanistic thinking to the pedagogical praxis within STEM. We see this Research Topic as grounded in futures-oriented thinking, proactive scholarship, and equity-minded inclusive practices that will drive new conversations in STEM education toward feasible, meaningful ways to codify equity-minded higher education STEM ecosystems.
Forsythe, D., Green, R. M., Hsu, J. H.
Office hours are an integral component of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) courses at nearly all colleges and universities. Despite their ubiquity as a support mechanism, there has only been limited work examining how instructors approach office hours and what shapes these approaches. Here, we conduct a phenomenographic study to investigate how instructors of STEM courses experience office hours and how these experiences may impact their approaches to promoting and managing office hours. We identified variations in how instructors promoted office hours, the modality of office hours (i.e., when and where office hours were held), and how instructors facilitated learning during office hours. These variations spanned from student-centric (strategies instructors use with students’ interest in mind, e.g., wanting to increase student learning, accessibility, comfort, etc.) to instructor-centric (strategies the instructors use with their own self-interest in mind, e.g., saving time and/or bandwidth, personal needs, comfort, etc.). Additionally, we identify several challenges and barriers, including a lack of formal training or opportunities to discuss office hour approaches with other faculty, and conclude with general recommendations for instructors and administrators in STEM departments for engaging and supporting students during office hours.
Forsythe, D., Jones, M. C., Friedensen, R. E., Vaccaro, A., Miller, R. A., Stephens-Peace, K., Forester, R.
While decades of scholarship show the oppression of women by the enforcement of patriarchal gender norms, little research has explored the ways in which masculinity receives preferential treatment over femininity, independent of a man/woman binary. In this paper, critical femininity is used to explore how masculine-identifying science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) students holding minoritized identities of sexuality and/or gender (MIoSG) experience and navigate their campus environments that are steeped in anti-femininity. Only by documenting complex understandings of how men and masculine-identifying STEM individuals (who are the majority of STEM learners and faculty) learn, enact, and reproduce anti-femininity can educators begin to resist and alter harmful patriarchal STEM environments.
Committing to Racial Justice as a White Woman in STEM: Using Constructivist Grounded Theory to Explore White Activism
Forsythe, D.
There is a mountain of evidence demonstrating that students with marginalized, i.e. purposefully socially excluded, identities experience significantly worse academic and social outcomes in STEM disciplines. However, there has been less attention on how white women, who experience sexism due to their gender but are privileged due to their race, simultaneously contribute to and play a role in dismantling systemic racism. In this study, I used constructivist grounded theory to explore the process through which white women in STEM commit to racial justice both within and outside of their disciplines.
Neutral theory and beyond: A systematic review of molecular evolution education
Forsythe, D., Hsu, J. L.
Molecular evolution—including the neutral theory of molecular evolution—is a major sub-discipline of evolution and is widely taught in undergraduate evolution courses. However, despite its ubiquity, there have not been any previous attempts to compile and review the molecular evolution education literature. Here, we draw upon the framework proposed in a past literature review examining the broader evolution education landscape to conduct a literature review of papers related to molecular evolution education, classifying the contributions of such papers to evolution pedagogy as well as evolution education research.
Troubling the Complexity of Student Involvement in Minoritized Identity of Sexuality and/or Gender-Based Campus Organizations
Forsythe, D., Jones, M. C., Vaccaro, A., Stephens-Peace, K., Friedensen, R. E., Miller, R. A., Forester, R.
Research has highlighted the connection between involvement and important postsecondary outcomes such as persistence, interpersonal/intrapersonal development, civic engagement, and multicultural competence, among many others. However, for students with minoritized identities of sexuality and gender (MIoSG), engaging in identity-based organizations comes with both risks and benefits, especially in a time of increasingly prevalent anti-queer and anti-trans U.S.-based legislation.
Negotiated involvement in STEM organizations by students with minoritized identities of sexuality and gender (MIoSG)
Forsythe, D., Vaccaro, A., Jones, M. C., Friedensen, R. E., Miller, R. A., Kimball, E., Forester, R.
The literature suggests that students who hold minoritized social identities often have lower rates of persistence in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) due to many factors, including marginalization from both peers and faculty. In response, universities have developed STEM organizations and clubs to foster belonging and success in STEM students from marginalized backgrounds (i.e., "Out in STEM"). While the literature suggests that student involvement increases persistence and sense of belonging, little research has focused on participation by students with minoritized identities of sexuality and/or gender (MIoSG) in STEM organizations. Our findings, from a multi-campus, grounded theory study with 56 STEM students with MIoSG, suggest that students weigh the benefits against the potential pitfalls of participation. Study participants discussed the challenges of balancing time constraints, perceptions of hostile and/or identity affirming environments, and the presence/absence of organizations for students with MIoSG on campus.