Integrating Antiracism, Social Justice, and Equity Themes in a Biochemistry Class

A recent push toward addressing antiracism in science reveals a need to integrate discussions of racism, social justice, and equity into undergraduate STEM classes. Toward this end, in Fall 2020, a theme of "Racism is a Public Health Emergency" was incorporated as an overlay for an existing undergraduate biochemistry curriculum. This theme was used throughout the entire semester and involved discussions of racism, social justice, and equity that were directly integrated with the science content of the course. Students enrolled in the class were surveyed at the end of the semester regarding their perceptions of integrating discussions of racism, social justice, and/or equity into chemistry courses. Students indicated that the inclusion of the overlay increased the relevance of the course material, indicated a high level of understanding of the impact of bias and race on the field of biochemistry, and expressed overwhelmingly positive views regarding future inclusion of similar themes of equity and antiracism in chemistry courses. Additionally, student scores and answers on common final exam questions were compared to previous semesters, revealing that the inclusion of this overlay did not negatively impact coverage of biochemistry content.