Teaching is an integral part of many of our jobs as academics, so collaborating with like-minded scientists and scholars to think about how best to present biological concepts to students can be a valuable and rewarding experience. More critically, the way we teach evolution in undergraduate courses, particularly how we address student misconceptions or address the legacy of harmful ideologies, can have important impacts on student social beliefs and senses of belonging in science. RIE2 (Resources for Inclusive Evolution Education) was formed by eight women of color at various career stages in the field of evolutionary biology to increase the accessibility of teaching resources that improve and deepen the understanding of evolutionary concepts that are prone to misunderstanding or misuse. 

Creating inclusive teaching strategies

With funding from several scientific societies, including a GSA Starter Culture Microgrant, we brought together 30 participants from the fields of evolutionary biology, science, technology, and society studies (STS), history of science, and education, to create and curate inclusive teaching at the undergraduate level. Participants came from both within and outside the U.S., and by design, included a range of different career stages and backgrounds. Working groups had additional support from Dr. Banu Subramanian of Wellesley College and Dr. Angela Google of University of Rhode Island. Our first iteration working groups focused on five topics: adaptation, genotype-phenotype associations, natural selection, genetic drift, and phenotypic plasticity. Four of the five planned teaching modules are now publicly available through QUBES, and are linked through the RIE2 resources page. As of May 1, 2025, the four published modules have been viewed over 1,600 times and downloaded 680 times. 

Increased understanding and society connection

One of us, Dr. Suegene Noh at Colby College, had the opportunity to teach the Genetic Drift module in March 2025. This module includes six new activities developed by the genetic drift working group over the past nine months. RIE2 had partnered with Dr. Robin Costello at the University at Buffalo to create a survey to quantify student outcomes from learning with our modules. The survey results revealed that student understanding of genetic drift, as measured using the Genetic Drift Inventory, significantly increased. More importantly, students were more inclined to agree that society affects the way scientific knowledge is built and how scientific knowledge is applied. The unique activities in our module, including the one that engages with Queer theory, helped students more readily make this connection to society. 

The future of RIE2

As RIE2 organizers, this endeavor was hugely rewarding. We found collaborating in the working groups to be an incredible experience that applied our respective perspectives and skill sets to teaching. We are excited to see our modules in use in the world and welcome any feedback instructors have. We will continue assessing the impact of the resources created during this first iteration, and we hope to organize additional working groups in the future. 

About the GSA Starter Culture Microgrants

These microgrants fund small-but-mighty projects that benefit the genetics community and allow GSA to be more responsive to member needs and changing contexts in the field. Learn more at genetics-gsa.org/career-development/microgrants. 

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