Sum24 Culturally Responsive Teaching with ESCALA4

Summer 2024 Escala 4

Natural Sciences and Mathematics 21:

A Freshman First Year Experience Seminar

Equity-Minded / Engaging / Higher Utility Value

Reflection on Instructional Change:

For the Data Deep Dive assignment, I took data from a class I've taught for more than 3 semesters called Natural Sciences and Mathematics (NSM) 21: A Freshman Year Introductory Seminar. I think by Hornet Launch (= CSUS enrollment program for Freshman) definitions, it is seen as a "support class" since it helps freshman learn resources and support centers that may fit their interest(s) and help them through college. My analysis showed, at least when comparing Spring 2022 with Fall 2023 to Spring 2024, that I support Hispanic students, especially women and their learning styles with my methods of teaching! However, my "Fs" were also mostly from Hispanic folks, too, especially in Spring 2024! I noticed that a group of 2-3 LatinX students had strong issues with commuting and being able to attend, and as a result, landed in this category. Perhaps a larger sample size would help (e.g. this semester is only the fourth time I've taught this class and many other discussions that I have taught over years and years are discussions under a lecture instructor of record, so I can't see my individual data in the database..), as ESCALA instructors suggested. I'm going to describe how I worked with what I had.

I did a number of things, this semester, to combat the issues I saw more clearly in my course structure(s) when taking ESCALA. The first was to avoid "just talking at the class" but rather having them engage, instead. This seminar class should be about them and is for them, so I started off by introducing the class with a Syllabus Reconnaissance activity that I learned from exercises with ESCALA; I think it helped set the stage for the term. To do the Syllabus activity, I had my students tell me what they thought was important in the document. Inevitably, they focused on the grading scheme, which was great because that was the main thing I changed after taking ESCALA and other similar equity training courses, this year. I learned that Hispanic / LatinX folks in particular have a more group-focused mentality regarding community and participation-- and actually, often really needed the "take home" of "How is this important/relevant to my life?" question answered, to have the activity make any sense. e.g. I worked on the Utility Value of this course.

To encourage active participation, which is a main goal and purpose of this seminar class, anyway!, I changed my grading scheme to award points simply by coming to class and participating. I lowered the weight for Exams to 25%, from 40%. This change makes Participation and Activities as high as 75% of their grade. I think this encouraged them to participate AND helped me meet the needs of LatinX students better by increasing the Utility Value of assignments. If they come and engage with resources and learn about them, then they have many opportunities to get credit for the course: e.g. journaling/reflection assignments, a scavenger hunt, having them lead discussions in class, instead of so much weight on assessments. As this course is intended to not be very academic but rather supportive! I think this was a good change.

For feedback from my Share and Analyze Session, my colleagues asked if they thought that grades were looking better (objectively) with these modifications vs. what the students liked (subjective)? It seems both were positive for these changes! I can tell, now that we're further in the semester that having less weight on exams does really seem to help overall grades for students in this course. Also, many have told me they appreciate having other assignments affect their grades, strongly, vs. tests. Also, our ESCALA instructor also suggested there is a way to take a "Grade Snapshot" in Canvas by setting a certain (grade) threshold and then viewing those students in a new column as a projected grade column and/or that that is a way to communicate with or evaluate those students, easily. I may use that technique in the future to either help me assess a certain group of students, or focus on a certain group of students. Overall, it was also nice to see what others are doing to make adjustments for equitable learning after ESCALA, as well!

**Evidence of Instructional Change**
Image 1: Grading scheme from Spring 2024 (pre-ESCALA)	Image 2: Grade Scheme from Fall 2024 (post-ESCALA)
Grading scheme was 40% weight on Exams.	Grading scheme is now 25% weight on Exams, meaning other activities and participation are 75%.

Before Syllabus NSM 21 Sp2024 Syllabus_BKammerer.docx

After Course Syllabus NSM 21 Fall2024 Syllabus_BKammerer_.pdf

**Faculty Bio**
	I am a Lecturer here at CSUS for ~7 years and hold a Ph.D. from University of California, Davis in Molecular Cellular and Integrative Physiology (fish physiology) and a B.S. from studies in Biology and Environmental Studies from Tufts University. I spent ~5 years as a post-doctoral fellow after that. I now often teach Intro Biology courses which have many students with different learning styles and diverse backgrounds, so this course was especially relevant. When I’m not working on teaching, I spend time with my family to include my 2 y.o. son, Wallace, and partner, Jake. We love to garden and be outside, especially near the river. While aquatic ecosystems dominated my years of research and post-doctoral projects, they now are included in the things I teach my son, such as how to swim and look for fishes

Funding
	This work was supported by: US Department of Education Hispanic Serving Institution Project TECH4Equity US Department of Education Hispanic Serving Institution Project STEM4Equity P031C210012 *Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation or the US Department of Education.