School of Education, University of California Irvine, Irvine, California, United States of America.
Division of Teaching Excellence and Innovation, University of California Irvine, Irvine, California, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2024 Apr 17;19(4):e0301331. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0301331. eCollection 2024.
Fostering equity in undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) programs can be accomplished by incorporating learner-centered pedagogies, resulting in the closing of opportunity gaps (defined here as the difference in grades earned by minoritized and non-minoritized students). We assessed STEM courses that exhibit small and large opportunity gaps at a minority-serving, research-intensive university, and evaluated the degree to which their syllabi are learner-centered, according to a previously validated rubric. We specifically chose syllabi as they are often the first interaction students have with a course, establish expectations for course policies and practices, and serve as a proxy for the course environment. We found STEM courses with more learner-centered syllabi had smaller opportunity gaps. The syllabus rubric factor that most correlated with smaller gaps was Power and Control, which reflects Student's Role, Outside Resources, and Syllabus Focus. This work highlights the importance of course syllabi as a tool for instructors to create more inclusive classroom environments.
在本科阶段的科学、技术、工程和数学（STEM）课程中培养公平性，可以通过采用以学习者为中心的教学法来实现，从而缩小机会差距（这里定义为少数群体和非少数群体学生之间的成绩差异）。我们评估了一所少数族裔服务型、研究密集型大学中具有较小和较大机会差距的 STEM 课程，并根据之前验证的评分标准评估了其课程大纲在多大程度上以学习者为中心。我们特别选择了课程大纲，因为它们通常是学生与课程的第一次互动，为课程政策和实践设定了期望，并作为课程环境的代表。我们发现，以学习者为中心的课程大纲的 STEM 课程机会差距较小。与较小差距最相关的课程大纲评分标准因素是权力和控制，它反映了学生的角色、外部资源和课程大纲重点。这项工作强调了课程大纲作为教师创造更具包容性课堂环境的工具的重要性。
