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Now that gender and sexual diversity are more visible than ever, our science curriculum must adapt to serve our students and prepare them for the future

Student Agency

Good teaching requires knowing our students well and listening to their feedback to adjust our teaching practice. This is especially true when creating a gender-inclusive curriculum that works in the specific context of our classrooms. While making shifts toward a gender-inclusive teaching model, it is valuable to ask your students what they are interested in learning about, and hear their questions and concerns...



One way to involve students in the process of adapting your curriculum is to co-create language and diagrams that accurately describe the phenomena they are learning about (Figure 2). During a lesson on mitosis, for example, we are likely to encounter a diagram that shows silhouettes of a figure in a dress creating eggs and a figure in trousers creating sperm. When encountering this diagram for the first time, we can ask students to think about different ways of describing the process that are inclusive and universal. For example, egg creation occurs in ovaries, and sperm creation occurs in testes. By revising the model with accurate labels of the location of these processes, we eliminate inaccuracies and provide opportunities for students to be a part of creating their own learning materials, adding to their learning experience.

Similarly, during a lesson on pedigrees and genetic inheritance, the terms “mother,” “father,” and “biological parent” are often used to describe the two individuals who create the egg and sperm that become a new person. However, we know that the relationship of these three people cannot always be described by those words—for families who adopt, use surrogacy or donor gametes, or see a parent transition gender, these terms may directly contradict the way they describe themselves. This idea of “the two individuals who created the egg and sperm that became a new person” has no official, accurate, and inclusive name in the English language. So this is a great opportunity for students to co-create language that accurately describes this idea. In the past, students have come up with words such as “Biological Life Transmitters” (BLTs), “Gene-Givers” (GGs), or “Storks,” since those cells “bring” the baby. This is a rare opportunity for the students to teach language to the teacher rather than the other way around, and models the way that science and language are constantly shifting to be more accurate and inclusive. Student agency allows students to take ownership in what they are learning, and for students with high interest in these topics to explore them even further.

...When we intentionally teach about gender in biology, we are able to shape the way students understand themselves, science, and society.

The Dept of Education held a training for teachers to learn how to be inclusive of tran and non-binary K-12 students.

This trans teacher says he teaches inclusive language like not everyone who produces eggs is a woman.

The official U.S. Dept of Ed is promoting these ideas.

https://twitter.com/libsoftiktok/status ... 7742859264