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Gender Diversity in the Biology Classroom

GenderInclusiveBiology.com

Sam Long (he/him), Lewis Steller (he/him), and River Suh (they/he)

High School Science Teachers

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If men are XY and women are XX, then what about trans people?

How can someone have two moms and no dad?

Is it natural to be gay?

“So I’m teaching biology when a student asks…”

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Our Goal

Create and curate resources for educators to engage with students about diverse gender, sex, and sexuality in a scientifically accurate, accessible way.

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Key Terms

Gender Identity: A personal sense of one's own gender. �Self-determined and distinct from sex assigned at birth.
Sexual orientation: A person's attraction toward men, women, both, another gender, or neither. Distinct from gender identity.
Transgender: Broadly, anybody who does not fully identify with the gender assigned to them at birth.
Intersex: Differences in sex traits or reproductive anatomy, compared to the usual two ways that human bodies develop.
Gender-Inclusive: A curriculum that acknowledges and affirm all identities including transgender, nonbinary, cisgender and intersex.

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↓ Decrease in

↓ victimization

↓ anti-LGBT remarks

↓ absenteeism.

↑ Increase in

↑ positive relationships w/ teachers

↑ peer support against anti-LGBT remarks

_{Source: GLSEN 2013 Report}

Inclusive curriculum helps LGBTQ youth by creating a:

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Position Statement: On Equity in Science Education (2012)

We have a fundamental, active, and obligatory role in creating, ensuring, and promoting meaningful education environments that reflect the full spectrum of human dimensions so that diversity, unity, and equity are able to flourish in science education.
Diversity contributes to the richness of biological science understanding and ways of knowing, enhances our educational and scientific discourse, [and] places historical, cultural, and philosophical frames of reference in context.

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Position Statement - On Gender Equity in Science Education (2019)

Gender equity means ensuring all students of any sex, gender identity and/or expression, or sexual orientation—regardless of racial or ethnic background or ability—are empowered, challenged, supported, and provided full access to become successful science learners.
When teaching topics such as reproduction or evolution, limiting discussions of gender or sexuality solely to male-female heterosexuality may unwittingly marginalize students who do not identify with these roles and miss important opportunities for exploring the diversity of reproductive strategies among living things and growing evidence of the non-binary nature of sex in humans.

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Appendix D: “All Standards, All Students”

To engage all students in learning the NGSS, it is important to understand the context that influences science learning by diverse student groups.
Science teachers need to acquire effective strategies to include all students regardless of racial, ethnic, cultural, linguistic, socioeconomic, and gender backgrounds.

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Talking to Kids About Science in a Gender-Inclusive Way

tinyurl.com/genderWAT

RIVER: Many attendees probably ask these questions and others, and it may not be feasible for your site to talk openly about gender diversity, so the reflection questions can really help figure out what’s appropriate for your students. So we wrote an article in January that starts the work of shifting our language to more consistently recognize the reality of the human spectrum. It’s very tempting to reach for categories we were taught, but it’s an interesting opportunity to ask: are we reaching for exclusion or leaning into diversity? If I want to talk about girls’ soccer, why am I trying to talk about “people who menstruate”? Does this say something about my ideas about who can play soccer or what requirement I care about? Even now, our team debates this table and discusses how to ensure these aren’t shortcut labels, but focused on the function. Now we’ll switch from this table of examples you can access at the link, to how this can look when talking about animals.

�Full link: https://www.weareteachers.com/gender-inclusive-science/

Right now, students are saying:

A student says, “You need a mom and dad to make a baby.”

A student says, “My textbook says a characteristic ‘goal’ of life is to mate and have biological children.”

A student says, “But I was taught that everyone is XX or XY. Is that wrong?”

A student says, “Same-sex pairings or transgender behavior is unnatural because they don’t produce babies.”

An even more extensive guide is available at https://www.genderinclusivebiology.com/bettersciencelanguage

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Biological Differences Among Humans

Disease

Disorder

Syndrome

Variation

Abnormal

“Mistake”

“Luck”

“Genetic Jackpot”

Defective

Special

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Considerations for the Language of Diversity

Connotation: positive/neutral/negative, natural/exceptional
Preferred self-descriptors: Intersex trait, Little person
Person-first language: Person with albinism
Matching the language of medicine and academia
Matching the language of non-human species
Matching the language of standardized exams
Have students choose the language to fit the class values and context of study

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STEM/Equity Etymology Posters

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A Framework for Gender-Inclusive Biology

1. Authenticity	Select accurate content and language that acknowledges both gender diversity and scientific precision. (e.g. “Ovaries produce eggs” in meiosis, not “women produce eggs.”)
2. Continuity	Consistently include gender, where applicable, as one of many lenses for analysis. Begin units with a diversity lens instead of teaching an oversimplification that is later changed for exceptions.
3. Affirmation	Highlight and celebrate the naturally-occurring diversity of human and nonhuman species. Frame diverse phenomena, such as chromosomal intersex traits, with interested curiosity. Do not sensationalize or pathologize these variations.
4. Anti-Oppression	Encourage students to identify and analyze the patterns that inform society’s status quo. Help students recognize recurring injustices such as intersex genital mutilation, court-ordered sterilization and chemical castration of transgender and gay individuals, and sex verification in sports.
5. Student Agency	Provide students choices and habitually incorporate a student feedback cycle. Students engage more when they explore their own questions and make decisions, especially in learning about gender, sex, and sexuality.

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5 Guiding Questions in Gender-Inclusive Biology

1. Authenticity	Accurate vs. oversimplified?
2. Continuity	Consistently inclusive lens vs. special token lesson?
3. Affirmation	Normalize vs. stigmatize?
4. Anti-Oppression	Empower vs. marginalize?
5. Student Agency	Invites sharing student experience?

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5 Guiding Questions in Gender-Inclusive Biology

1. Authenticity	Accurate vs. oversimplified?
2. Continuity	Consistently inclusive lens vs. special token lesson?
3. Affirmation	Normalize vs. stigmatize?
4. Anti-Oppression	Empower vs. marginalize?
5. Student Agency	Invites sharing student experience?

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Examples from Typical Biology Curriculum

Sex Chromosomes (Authenticity)
An Inquiry About Intersex (Continuity)
Patterns of Sexual Behavior (Affirmation)
Genetic Inheritance (Anti-oppression)
Student Agency

�Before breaking out: Open the “Examples” doc.

In your breakout group:

Read through your assigned scenario.
Assign a reporter to type responses in the doc.
Answer the guiding questions at the end of your document.

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Student Comments

"I've never had a teacher discuss LGBT relationships or even acknowledge they existed. It was very reassuring to hear that other people go through the same things and I think all teachers should acknowledge this."

“Everyone should feel represented in their biology education so they get the right information. It reminds all students that not everyone has the same body as you or identifies in the same way, and that's okay. This was the most important aspect to me personally as a cisgender person.”

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Student Comments

“In science class, you should teach the difference between gender and sex when kids are young.”

“To teachers considering teaching more gender inclusive biology, I would say that this could really mean a lot to your students and there's not really any reason not to do it.”

“Tell us intersex people exist and aren’t bad.”

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genderinclusivebiology.com

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Participant Questions

What are some effective ways to deal with parents who may not feel comfortable with this sort of change/progress? +1

Emphasize alignment to curriculum standards and best practices
Solicit admin support
Highlight benefits to all students
Educate parents using the student-facing materials

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How can educators with a homophobic religious belief-system learn to be inclusive when it comes to LGBTQIA+ students and staff?

Educate yourself and let others know you are working on this
Collect feedback from your students and colleagues

Are you aware of curriculum developers/writers that are designing curriculum to be more inclusive?

BSCS, OpenStax, Gale/Cengage, and HHMI BioInteractive/PhET have all partnered with the Gender-Inclusive Biology team in some way to develop inclusive curriculum

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How can teachers support LGBTQ+ students who are struggling with coming out?

How would you ensure that gender diverse students feel safe when classrooms start speaking about gender diversity?

Always assume these students are in the room
Show your allyship by promptly addressing even the smallest instances of prejudice in the classroom
Survey students on the name and pronouns they want to use in class vs. around parents
Invite all students to contribute to discussions about gender, but no student is obligated to speak for any group

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How do I feel more seen as a nonbinary educator without having to explain myself to everyone all the time?

Consider name, honorics, and titles that you use as an educator
Lean on allies in your workplace when possible
Express yourself through visual culture when possible
Connect with the Transgender and Nonbinary Educators Network for resources and discussion board
Don’t feel obligated to be the “go-to” advocate or educator of your colleagues
Demand compensation for advocacy and training work that you do

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When speaking about the reproductive systems in my A&P class, what common errors can I avoid that will dignify my LGBTQ+ students?

Clearly define male and female in each context where you are using it
When appropriate, replace ‘male’ and ‘female’ with precise and pertinent language like “people with ovaries produce eggs”
Don’t frame biological reproduction as compulsory, inevitable, or the only way to have a family
When discussing sex differences in bone morphology, heart attack risk, etc: emphasize that these are often caused by differences in hormone levels and not essential to being male or female

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What role does ethics play in CRISPR technology and the ability to "solve" problems in human genetic existence? For example, today's problems could be tomorrow's solutions to environmental changes.

Before discussing “solutions” to, begin with multiple perspectives of the “problem”. A problem to whom?
Be sensitive about the real and hypothetical scenarios you ask your students to deliberate
Genetic variations are a defining feature of living things including humans. They are naturally occurring and whether they are beneficial, neutral, or harmful, they are not “accidents” or “mistakes”

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Thank you!

We’d love to hear comments & questions in chat.

genderinclusivebiology.com