Understanding Implicit Bias
Brown University's Harriet W. Sheridan Center for Teaching and Learning offers excellent materials on implicit bias. Wichita State employees and students also have free access to this excellent LinkedIn Learning course, "Unconscious Bias," with Stacey Gordon.
Resources from Every Learner, Everywhere
As part of its online materials addressing how to mitigate for sterotype threat, Every Learner Everywhere also suggests the following actions to mitigate for stereotype threat:
1. Celebrate students’ whole identities: Start by understanding that every student brings a blend of identities to the classroom, which creates unique sets of pressures. When you create a classroom environment that celebrates and supports students’ whole identities, it reduces a student’s worry that they’ll be stereotyped.
2. Provide positive examples of minoritized people in the curricula: Culturally responsive teaching primes students for success by presenting them with examples of experts and authors who share their identity. It also builds trust in the course material.
3. Promote a growth mindset: Design assignments and assessments with student care in mind to encourage students to learn, grow, and experiment.
4. Be explicit about criteria: Minoritized students may come into the classroom lacking inherited knowledge about classroom expectations and procedures. Rather than making assumptions that may cause students to feel out of place, design your syllabus with equity in mind.
5. Challenge your own assumptions: Finally, take the time to understand your own implicit biases and challenge stereotypes you may not realize you hold. Seek out other voices and listen thoughtfully. Interrogate your reactions and responses with tools like the Implicit Association Test from Project Implicit to understand your own biases.
And, at the departmental or institutional level, equity audits can help reveal barriers to equity that can amplify stereotype threat.