Have you seen the monumental growth of the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020? Left wondering how psychological research can play its part in addressing inequality for People of Colour (POC)? Good, Bourne and Drake (2020) investigated how the language used in classroom diversity philosophies in online STEM classes can affect the performance of students, particularly students of colour. If you aren’t sure what a classroom diversity philosophy is, it is essentially a statement about the expectations the professor has regarding diversity in the classroom. This research is extremely relevant because as of 2012, 65% of educational institutions have a diversity philosophy! (Wilson, Meyer & McNeal, 2012)
The researchers set out to answer the question: does the lecturer’s use of diversity philosophies impact the learning of the students? Specifically, they used either a multiculturism or a colour-blind approach (as well as a control condition). Multiculturism is where cultural and racial inclusion is upheld by appreciating the ways that groups vary from each other, whereas colour-blindness seeks to promote cultural and racial integration by focusing on the ways we are all similar (Plaut, 2010).
 |
| Classroom diversity |
In Good, Bourne and Drake’s (2020) study, 688 undergraduate students from around the United States took part, under the impression that the study was investigating the effectiveness of online learning. First the participants listened to a welcome message from the instructor and read the course syllabus – which both included a different diversity philosophy. The multiculturism condition emphasised student’s differences, the colour-blind condition stressed the similarities of the students. In the control condition the professor merely asked the students to be respectful to one another but did not specifically address diversity. The participants then completed a ten-minute online lesson followed by a comprehension quiz on the material covered. Finally, they completed short surveys evaluating how well they believed they would ‘fit in’ with the class, and whether the professor had any biases.
The results from this study are extremely interesting. POC performed far better in the condition where a multiculturism outlook was used but also perceived the lecturer to have less biases in this condition. Notably, white students considered the professor to have more biases in the multiculturism condition, and thought they were less biased in the condition where diversity was simply not addressed.
The research demonstrates that the attitudes of professors towards diversity can impact marginalised groups to the point it even affects their performance in class. Currently, POC are severely underrepresented in STEM fields (NSF, 2019), and discomfort around discussing diversity could be a contributing factor as to why. We can take from this study that educators must be aware of the language they are using and the attitudes they are promoting, or there can be detrimental consequences for POC. We also learn that they also should not be discouraged from openly discussing students’ differences, and in fact that using a multiculturism approach in the classroom is the best action educators can take for students of colour.
References
Good, J. J., Bourne, K. A., & Drake, R. G. (2020). The impact of classroom diversity philosophies on the STEM performance of undergraduate students of color. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology.
NSF National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (2019). Women, minorities, and persons with disabilities in science and engineering. Retrieved from
Plaut, V. C. (2010). Diversity science: Why and how difference makes a difference. Psychological Inquiry.
Wilson, J. L., Meyer, K. A., & McNeal, L. (2012). Mission and Diversity Statements: What They Do and Do Not Say. Innovative Higher Education.