Incorporating Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in Science: Lessons Learned from an Undergraduate Seminar

Questions of equity, diversity, and inclusion in the sciences have taken center stage in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and Black Lives Matter movement of 2020. This paper focuses on the experiences of academics engaging in such work, particularly in their roles as educators, by sharing two of the authors' experiences introducing equity, diversity, and inclusion initiatives in a first-year science course at a Canadian university. Using critical research methodologies like narrative inquiry and memory work, we look at three separate instances where complex personal, institutional and course attributes fostered, allowed, or hindered efforts to bring these initiatives into the classroom. We consider how problematic incidents and obstacles relating to the organization of content on equity, diversity, and inclusion in science cropped up during the process, how they were perceived and handled in the moment, as well as the authors' reflections, takeaways, and lessons learned from the experience. These stories suggest that efforts to center discussions about equity, diversity, and inclusion in undergraduate science classrooms can be unpredictable and complex, particularly at the day-to-day level; this is especially the case when handling subtler microaggressions rather than clear instances of discrimination or harassment. Our study points to the importance of creating a more permanent institutional memory for initiatives that outlive those who initiated and organized them, so that they become embedded within the culture of a course or department.