10-11:00 a.m., Wednesday, November 12 | Pritzker 1531 and Zoom
Undergraduate students are rarely taught how science and medicine perpetuate disparities or how these fields can be leveraged for change. Our study examines how undergraduate science education can play a role in addressing persistent health disparities rooted in systemic oppression and implicit bias through justice-centered science curricula. Undergraduate researchers with lived experiences of oppression, alongside community partners, co-created Social Justice in Science case studies that were implemented in an upper-division human physiology course. These materials guided pre-health students to connect physiology content with broader issues of health disparities and advocacy. Findings from student interviews revealed growth in critical consciousness, encompassing the ability to critically reflect on structural oppression that produces inequities, to develop critical self-efficacy to challenge these injustices, and to act in solidarity with those most affected. These findings underscore how justice-centered, community-informed curricula can empower educators to cultivate socially responsive healthcare professionals and scientists prepared to confront inequities.
Presenter Bio: Brie Tripp is an Associate Professor of Teaching at the University of California, Davis. She leads a lab of undergraduate researchers who study how to promote social and racial justice in undergraduate science classrooms, as well as the impacts of alternative grading practices. The lab performs mixed methods education and psychology research by centering students’ voices from underserved communities and developing justice-centered curricula in physiology and neurobiology education.