How Do Students Critically Evaluate Outdated Language That Relates to Gender in Biology?

Area of Science:

• Biology Education
• Sociology of Science
• Gender Studies

Background:

• Cisheteronormative ideologies permeate societal structures, including undergraduate science education.
• Existing biology textbooks often conflate or confuse biological sex and gender identity.
• Promoting inclusive classrooms requires addressing and correcting inaccurate language related to sex and gender.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess undergraduate students' ability to identify cisheteronormative language in biology textbooks.
• To determine the extent to which students can modify inaccurate language to be more precise and inclusive.
• To provide foundational data on student awareness of sex and gender terminology in science.

Main Methods:

• Students were presented with hypothetical biology textbook questions containing conflated sex and gender language.
• Participants were asked to modify the questions to improve accuracy and inclusivity.
• Analysis focused on the specific terms students identified as inaccurate and the modifications they proposed.

Main Results:

• The most frequently identified inaccurate terms related to infant gender identity.
• The predominant modification involved changing gender-related terms to sex-related terms.
• Student performance in identifying and correcting language showed minimal variation across different biology courses and academic performance levels.

Conclusions:

• Undergraduate students demonstrate a limited capacity to identify and correct cisheteronormative language in biology textbooks.
• Current pedagogical approaches may not adequately equip students to deconstruct sex and gender conflation in scientific texts.
• Further research and curriculum development are needed to foster a more nuanced understanding of gender identity within science education.