[Pre-print of Paper]

[Lead Author: Carlene Burton]

The Unlearning Racism in Geosciences (URGE) program guides groups of geoscientists as they draft, implement, and assess anti-racist policies and resources for their workplace. Some participating Geoscientists of Color (GoC) shared concerns about microaggression, tokenism, and power struggles within their groups. These reports led us to collect and analyze data that describe the experiences of GoC in URGE. The data are from five discussion groups and two surveys. Our analyses revealed that participating GoC want to continue working with White colleagues on anti-racist work. GoC want White colleagues not to shy away from doing anti-racist work. Instead, GoC want White colleagues (1) to create and adhere to robust behavioral codes of conduct, (2) to focus discussions on anti-racism, (3) to act on anti-racism initiatives, (4) not to prompt GoC to educate them or reveal trauma, and (5) to refrain from microaggressions and tokenism. These desired outcomes were achieved in some groups with varying degrees of success. Correcting a history of mistrust relating to racism and anti-racism action is key to implementing and assessing effective anti-racist policies and resources. This requires leadership support, following through on anti-racism action, and deepening relationships between GoC and White colleagues. Future anti-racist programs should spend a substantial amount of time on and demonstrate the importance of training participants how to discuss racism effectively and how to create and adhere to robust behavioral codes of conduct. Future programs should also explore developing a robust program-wide code of conduct that includes a policy for reporting offenses.

Figure 1. Bar charts shows some of the selected responses from GoC describing their experi- ences during pod discussions.

[Lead Author: Carlene Burton]

Our goal with this research is to explore how the interactions between leaders and those being led influence the implementation, assessment, and effectiveness of anti-racist policies and resources in geoscience workplaces. To this end, we are conducting research to answer the following two questions: (1) How do leaders in describe the hidden and visible barriers they face when implementing anti-racist policies that affect the recruitment and retention of geoscientists of color? and (2) How do leaders describe their decision-making processes during various ethical dilemmas that threaten the implementation of anti-racist policies that affect the recruitment and retention of geoscientists of color? We are doing this research via the Unlearning Racism in Geoscience program.

Figure 1. Infographic with the goal of this research within the unlearning Racism in Geoscience program.

[Poster ::: Pre-print of paper]

[Lead Author: Vashan Wright]

The use of active-learning strategies to teach out-of-school time (OST) geoscience courses have not significantly increased the number of racially minoritized students that pursue Geoscience. Studies hypothesize that significantly more minoritized students would pursue Geoscience if courses better resemble the students’ Collectivist cultures. We test this hypothesis by using pre-course, post-course, and after-activity surveys to quantify minoritized student engagement, perception of, and interest in pursuing Geoscience during two OST courses taught with learning activities that emphasize individualism (individual-learning) or collectivism (group-learning). After-activity surveys show that minoritized students (n = 68) prefer group-learning activities. Students rated group activities as more difficult and fun. Students also believed they learned more during group-learning activities. Their engagement and interest in lessons varied more widely during individual-learning activities. Pre- and post-course surveys reveal that the number of students interested in pursuing STEM and Geoscience increased from 43 to 54 and 11 to 16, respectively. The students’ perceptions of geoscientists broadened to include scientists who not only study the earth but also its history and governing processes. We interpret these results to mean that (1) educators may employ group-learning activities when they desire to increase task difficulty without sacrificing student engagement, and (2) individual-learning activities are less reliable means of engaging minoritized students. Our results imply that incorporating more group-learning activities in the classroom and field may help improve Geoscience diversity since group-learning activities resonate more strongly with minoritized students’ cultures.

Figure 1. Students’ response to individual-learning activities was more varied than to group-learning activities.