The opportunities and challenges of active learning for student anxiety, LGBTQ+ students, and students with disabilities
Sara Brownell, Professor, Arizona State University

Increasingly, college classrooms are transitioning from lecture to active learning.  While active learning has been shown to benefit students on average, less is known about how aspects of this learning environment may affect students with marginalized identities.  In this talk, I will present some unintended consequences of active learning for student anxiety, LGBTQ+ students, and students with disabilities and how instructors can structure their active learning classrooms to be more inclusive.  

Sara Brownell is a Professor in the School of Life Sciences at Arizona State University.  As a discipline-based education researcher, she explores how to make undergraduate science learning environments more inclusive.  Her research spans active learning courses, online courses, and undergraduate research experiences, with a specific focus on the experiences of marginalized students with potentially concealable identities such as religious students, community college transfer students, students with disabilities, and LGBTQ+ students.  She is a proud recipient of the 2020 LGBTQ+ Educator of the Year award and her work has been featured in numerous news outlets including Scientific American and the New York Times.