Teaching Sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

30 minutes – Part A: Systemic Barriers To Diversity In STEMM
30 minutes – Part B: The Benefits Of Diversity
40+ minutes – Part C: Your Business Plan For Diversity
5 minutes – Reflection

Lesson preparation:

Print out enough copies of the Job Scenarios so you have enough for each group of 4-5 students in your class (e.g. if you have 20 students, you will need 4-5 copies). Cut around the lines and place the pieces of one full page into an envelope. Students should not know which profile matches which position description. It will be their task to match them.

Part A: Systemic Barriers To Diversity In STEMM

Explain to students that this lesson is about diversity in the workplace. It features clips and explores issues from the documentary film, The Leadership, about a leadership cruise for women in STEMM - science, technology, engineering, maths, medicine.

You can refer to the teacher notes to provide additional information if students have not yet viewed the full film.

Step 1.

Invite students to share their thoughts on the following:

What does diversity mean, particularly in a workplace or industry context?
What issues or barriers might affect diversity in STEMM fields?
How could greater diversity in STEMM fields be beneficial both within the industry and for society more broadly?
What questions do you have about diversity in STEMM or at work, more broadly?

Step 2.

Play these clips from The Leadership:

Diversity - Dr Samantha Grover (https://vimeo.com/554137309/aa635a2102)

Diversity - Deborah Pardo (https://vimeo.com/554137379/8ac766f2bc)

Diversity - Dr Meredith Nash (https://vimeo.com/554137662/80303c5a1c)

Invite students to complete this THINK-PAIR-SHARE:

Questions	My initial thoughts	Ideas from paired discussion
What are the unintended consequences of the ‘publish or perish’ culture in science?
Why do you think it’s difficult for some people to thrive in a ‘publish or perish’ culture?
In what ways could the STEMM industry be improved to create a better work/life balance for everyone?
What are some examples in your school or community where 'success comes with skin colour (or whiteness)'?
In the final clip, Meredith Nash is demonstrating how to be an ally to people who are different from her. How could you be an ally?

Step 3.

After students have an opportunity to discuss their thoughts with a partner and the class, present them with the below profiles and scenarios that you have cut out and placed in an envelope.

Invite students to discuss the scenarios and match them with the most appropriate position descriptions.

Answers matched below:

Profile	Job Description
Prithi has a PhD in molecular science. She was born in Bangladesh but studied in Australia. She has a 2-year-old daughter and her husband is very supportive of her career and has a busy career of his own as an engineer. Prithi’s sister minds her child two days a week, but they need to send her to childcare any other days she and her husband are both working.	This position is 40 hours per week. You are required to publish four peer-reviewed papers every six months and speak at regular conferences. Some interstate travel will be required. We have free onsite child-minding facilities and excellent parental leave policies.
Sharon is a lecturing professor in bioengineering and has published several books. She lives with her partner and has two cats. She has an artificial leg and drives a modified car. She has to attend physiotherapy three times a week while she adjusts to a new prosthetic and finds it difficult to climb stairs.	This position is 20 hours per week and you will job-share with an experienced staff member. You will be required to co-coach an intern. There will be some out-of-hours work required to attend events. You may be required to work between our three fully accessible offices.
Marius has just moved to the USA from Italy. He speaks several languages, including English. He has recently started an internship at NASA where he will apply his expertise in propeller propulsion to new technologies. He is currently single but misses his family back home and would like to visit regularly.	This position is 140 hours per month. You will work on a three weeks on, one week off basis. You will be required to attend multiple sites, have your own driving licence and will need to be physically capable of climbing stairs and walking on high, narrow platforms. You must be proficient in English, but an ability to speak additional languages will be highly regarded.
Charles has been a surgeon for 15 years. He was recently involved in a motorcycle accident and is unable to walk. His left hand was also crushed. He’s bored and wants to get back to work soon, but his wife wants him to focus on his recovery. He’s not sure if he’ll ever be able to go back into surgery. He has two school-aged children.	This position is casual, up to 12 hours per week. You will be required to attend a group lab session one morning per week, located on our ground floor. You can work from home the rest of the time, with occasional onsite meetings that can be scheduled to suit you.

Step 4.

Invite students to discuss how likely it would be in the real world for each of these people to find a position description that suits them. Why might employers be reluctant to negotiate working conditions on an individual basis?

Possible answers:

They want their employees onsite or online at the same time so they can work together
They want everyone’s pay and leave benefits to be easy and equitable to avoid trouble with lawyers and unions
They want to be able to schedule meetings or events whenever they want
They know parents want to work vaguely around school hours
They want to know they can meet budgets, targets and deadlines and permanent full-time employees make these estimates easier.

Invite students to look at a job website (e.g. Seek) or careers section in the newspaper and see if they can find what working conditions are on offer.

Some students might like to try to find a job that suits one of the people in the activity above. If they are able to find one or more suitable positions, have them list and compare the working conditions and see if any of those jobs would give that person the work/life balance they require.

Extension opportunity: Students could discuss or write a persuasive text on the opportunities for creating ‘ideal roles’ for employees on a person by person basis. For example, they could consider how the school day could be adapted to suit the needs of teachers wanting to work flexible hours (e.g. so they can pursue a trade on the side, or care for young children or elderly parents), or working students (such as those heavily involved in sports or performing arts).

Part B: The Benefits Of Diversity

Step 1.

Play these clips from The Leadership:

Diversity - Crash test dummies (https://vimeo.com/554137479/a339355646)

Diversity - Songqiao Yao (https://vimeo.com/554137527/b92ec278e2)

Diversity - Q&A reflection (https://vimeo.com/554137621/a862b0ff35)

Invite students to complete this THINK-PAIR-SHARE:

Questions	My initial thoughts	Ideas from paired discussion
Clip 1: What unintended consequences came from having limited perspectives when creating crash-test dummies?
Clip 1: How might other products or designs benefit similarly from more diverse perspectives?
Clip 2: What benefits arose for the Homeward Bound project from having Songqiao join the ‘faculty’ on the ship?
Clip 3: Why might it be valuable for people with different backgrounds to bring “different cultural norms to a decision-making table”?

You might like to show each clip and have students answer the relevant questions before moving on to the next one.

Step 2.

Divide students into four groups and complete this jigsaw activity:

Each group is assigned one of the four topics listed below
Students begin by reading/viewing the materials assigned to them
- Culture and Language
- Disability
- Gender and Sexuality, Nicky Bell on the benefits of gender diversity (https://youtu.be/sNwkRglyhIg) and Diversity - Systemic barriers (https://vimeo.com/554137720/32063a038f)
- Religion and Values
Students summarise provided content to share with their peers
Students create a mind map or list any potential direct and indirect benefits of improving this form of diversity in STEMM.

Allow up to 15 minutes for this activity then have the groups disperse into new groups where each group has at least one member from each of the four original groups. Students share their learnings with one another. Allow 10 minutes for this.

Bring the class back together and lead a discussion. You might like to use the following prompts:

What surprised you about what you learned/heard?
What made you think?
What felt challenging and why do you think this is?
Do you feel that all types of diversity can offer something positive to any workplace or does it depend on the context?
Why do you think some organisations/industries still discriminate (directly or indirectly)?

Part C: Your Business Plan For Diversity

Step 1.

Play this clip from The Leadership that explores Fabian Dattner’s vision for Homeward Bound:

Diversity - Fabian's dream (https://vimeo.com/554137747/92f68d040e)

Warning: This clip includes course language.

Explain that while the first Homeward Bound leadership program wasn’t perfect (especially in addressing intersectionality; meaning diversity more broadly than just ‘women’), it has made many improvements and, at the time of writing, has completed four journeys and selected six cohorts. Launching this project was a courageous and challenging undertaking and wouldn't have been possible without the passionate leadership displayed by Fabian. She knew from the start that Homeward Bound would have its flaws stating:

“The expectation personally I have of the trip is it will be 70% as good as the next trip. And that there is high tolerance for things not going to plan. Because the greatest learning anybody will ever have is from the mistakes they make, not from getting everything right.”

Step 2.

Invite students to discuss and/or list the aspects of Homeward Bound that did work, or had the seed of a good idea.

Possible answers: a strong vision, a passionate advocate to bring the idea to fruition, a faculty of experts working together on the program, it aimed to address the issue of gender diversity in STEMM fields and empower women, it brought women scientists together so they could learn from and support one another, it used a scientific expedition to engage scientists - it was exciting for the target audience, several attendees felt empowered and made impressive changes in their lives and careers as a result of attending the program.

Step 3.

Invite students to work together to list the steps that might have been taken to bring Fabian’s dream of Homeward Bound to fruition. Write these on the board.

Example response:

Fabian shared her vision with a friend
A team of people worked together to create the leadership program
They marketed the program to women in STEMM
They invited applications and selected participants
They booked the ship and crew
The whole team was briefed on the intended outcomes and schedule
A timeline was drawn up
Regular meetings were held on board the ship to discuss progress and make any changes necessary
Feedback was sought
Changes were made based on feedback to improve the next journey.

Step 4.

Explain to students that they are now going to work in groups of 3-4 to create their own business or project plan with the goal of improving diversity in a STEMM industry or organisation of their choice. Remind them that their plan may not be perfect, but that it should aim to take a step in the right direction towards improving diversity and improving their chosen industry or organisation.

Their plan should:

Define what diversity looks like in the context of their business or project (e.g. cultural, linguistic, disability, gender, worldview, sexual orientation, intersectionality)
Outline the benefits of improving diversity for their chosen industry or organisation, exploring both direct and indirect benefits
Explain what the business or project will look like/do/achieve
Explain the people/roles the project or business will require
Explain how they will recruit leaders, participants and/or workers
Explain how, when and how often they will evaluate the business or project and what they will do with the findings.

For students looking to improve diversity in STEMM through education, you might like to share these websites with them:
https://deadlyscience.org.au/about-us/
https://www.esa.edu.au/solutions/our-solutions/girls-in-stem-toolkit

Reflection

Invite students to complete this Know, Learn, Wonder, Do thinking routine:

What I already KNOW about diversity in the workplace
What I still have to LEARN about diversity in the workplace
What I WONDER about diversity in the workplace
What I will DO with what I have learned today

Differentiated Learning

Extension - Business and Economics students could include an estimated budget and/or cost/benefit analysis along with their project plans.

Provisions for Learning Support - Partner lower literacy students with higher literacy students for the jigsaw activity in Part B. This can ensure they are able to discuss the content and come to an understanding of it without having to read it in depth.

Teacher Reflection

Take this opportunity to reflect on your own teaching:

What did you learn about your teaching practice today?
What worked well?
What didn't work so well?
What would you share?
Where to next?
How are you going to get there?

The Leadership - Inclusion and Diversity in the Workplace

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