Unconscious Bias is at Work in Our Classrooms

Action Steps Students Teachers Why it Matters Self assessment

Take the Gender and Science IAT

What is Project Implicit? Yale University, 1998 Now at Harvard, Virginia & Washington Universities 2003 – took off with research grant from National Institute of Mental Health millions of people have taken these tests since 1998 Now averaging 15,000 per week

Examples of IAT test topics: Gender Religion Native American Arab-Muslim Skin-tone Weapons Disability Race Gay-Straight Age (young-old) Presidents Asian-European

Why does it matter? Form Buddy Groups Come up with a definition in 15 words or less: “Unconscious bias is……” What does it have to do with your classroom? Time: 7 minutes

We receive 11 million bits of information every moment. We can only consciously process 40 bits.

What Causes Societal Bias? We all have shortcuts, “schemas” that help us make sense of the world. But our shortcuts sometimes make us misinterpret or miss things. That’s unconscious bias. Unconscious bias results from “schemas.” Schemas are necessary to live; everyone has them. We need them to make sense of information and to function, they let us pay attention to only select information. But they can also cause us to miss or misinterpret certain things, leading to unconscious bias.

Unconscious bias is… Unconscious biases are social stereotypes about certain groups of people that individuals form outside their own conscious awareness. Everyone holds unconscious beliefs about various social and identity groups, and these biases stem from one’s tendency to organize social worlds by categorizing.  The positions we hold about others that are influenced by past experiences, forming filters that cause conclusions to be reached, about groups or ethnicities, by ways other than through active thought or reasoning.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2013/02/11/171409656/why-even-radiologists-can-miss-a-gorilla-hiding-in-plain-sight Photo: www.npr.org

Categories leading to possible unconscious bias Example pulled from Cisco – goes through our filters and we respond to different things in different ways due to our biases.

The author wrote the book “Blink” because people judged him differently when he changed his hair. When hair changed he started to get: Speeding tickets, Pulled over in airport security lines, Ambushed on the sidewalk by a team of police, Malcolm Gladwell

Societal Bias Starts Young

Study after study…… Resumes: John vs Jane Teacher evaluations Grading Blind Orchestra Auditions Emergency Medical Care Letters of recommendation

Examples of Implicit Bias and Unconscious Bias: Resumes with ethnic sounding names pushed down in the selection for interviews. Asian candidates given priority positions requiring math and science. Women more frequently interrupted in business meetings. Some team members, who arrive late to a meeting, are welcomed and given a brief update on what transpired prior to their arrival. Other team members, based on a racial, gender, generational or other differences, receive only a fleeting glance from the leader, subtly conveying a message of admonishment with no welcome or update offered. Girls are not good at math or computer science

Unconscious Bias We know that unconscious biases are particularly present in organizations/professions or classes dominated by a single group (e.g., tech, elementary teaching, computer science classes, nursing, etc.)

Bias Microinequities A feeling of being devalued​ Lower self-esteem​ Decreased morale​ A sense that you’re not being listened to​ ​Decrease in speaking/sharing ideas​ Decrease in taking risks​ Decrease in productivity ​ Lower grades​ Poor retention​

Awareness is An Important First Step

Summary: Key IAT Trends * 07/16/96 Summary: Key IAT Trends Implicit biases are pervasive. People are often unaware of their implicit biases. Implicit biases predict behavior. People differ in levels of implicit bias. Educational attainment makes no difference with respect to implicit biases. * ##

IMPLICIT ATTITUDES IMPLICIT STEREOTYPES Arts and Humanities Home over career

How might these filters/unconscious biases impact your classroom How might these filters/unconscious biases impact your classroom? Could be teacher behaviors. Could be peer to peer behaviors Jot down your ideas – 3 minutes Buddy Group sharing – 7 minutes Share in large group

Case Study Read the scenario Respond to the following questions: What is the issue? How might the person be feeling? What might be the outcome if nothing changes? How could you intervene to be a “Champion of Inclusion?”

You control your classroom culture: your circles of power and influence Creating Inclusive Classroom Card Decks – bring your questions tomorrow!

Review: What is an inclusive classroom? A place where every student feels they have the option to speak and be heard. ..inspires everyone to engage in problem solving and share their ideas with each other. Every student feels included students feel that their contributions and perspectives are equally valued and respected. if someone in the lab is noninclusive, others actively engage to challenge the negative behavior. FYI, these samples are taken from their survey responses… they will appear when you click if you want to use them after pulling a couple of responses from the group.

The challenge for us all…. ….is to ensure that the classroom climate and curriculum is supportive and responsive to all students.

Google Video about Unconscious Bias

Resources https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1086492.pdf Understanding Implicit Bias: What Educators Should Know Unconscious Bias @ Work — Making the Unconscious Conscious Google 4 minute YouTube video about unconscious bias https://www.nytimes.com/video/who-me-biased 2-3 minute videos to teach about implicit bias http://csteachingtips.org/ and https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLHqz- wcqDQIEMMuXadwy90YxN2Qb4SrXT (YouTube version with Colleen Lewis)