Asking Different Questions in STEM Research: Feminist STS Approaches to STEM Pedagogy

Abstract

Using the example of a new pilot curriculum developed at the UC Davis Feminist Research Institute, we demonstrate the potential of feminist science & technology studies (FSTS) frameworks to connect the challenges of demographic diversity at the level of the institution with the challenge of epistemological diversity at the level of how we approach research in STEM fields. Dominant ideals of scientific objectivity imply that researchers must leave their personal identities and experiences behind to pursue research. However, most scientists know this is not the lived reality of scientific practice. In reality, researchers cannot help but bring their biases into the lab, and the history of science bears this out (Daston & Galison, 2007; Subramaniam, 2014). A FSTS perspective suggests that institutional change requires structures that promote and reward research that includes the experiences of people historically under-represented in STEM fields, particularly connecting issues of under-representation to the production of new scientific discoveries. We argue that the “Asking Different Questions” pilot curriculum illustrates the potential of STEM research training curriculum to utilize theory and analytical tools from FSTS and Critical Race and Ethnic Studies to help people situated in STEM fields to understand the relationship between efforts to bring more diversity into science and the need for new approaches to scientific research.