Instructor Zachary Patterson (Department of Neuroscience), partnered with third-year student, Nathalie Mensah, through the Students as Partners Program (SaPP) last fall to design learning materials that would contextualize neuropharmacological ideas and challenge students’ biases regarding substance use and addiction in BIPOC communities. The following blog details Nathalie’s experience with this project and what she learned in her role as a student partner. Read Zachary ‘s reflection here.
The Beginning: A Thank You Email Goes a Long Way
After completing the early summer course NEUR 3204: Neuropharmacology, taught by Dr. Patterson, I decided to send a thank you email to show my appreciation for taking the time to instruct this course, as our school would be approaching nearly one year of online learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A few days later, I received a reply from Dr. Patterson with an invitation to apply for a SaPP project and to consider him as a faculty partner. After several Zoom calls brainstorming our ideas, Dr. Patterson and I agreed to submit our application for the program.
Knowing this research opportunity would be met with challenges during this difficult period in the pandemic, we were still determined to develop our ambitious ideas to implement Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) elements into this course.
Working on Brightspace: BIPOC GeNiUSeS*, Building Quizzes and Assessments
During the early stages of the fall term, Dr. Patterson and I shared our ideas on how to create specialized course material by combining his expertise (and my beginner-level understanding) of neuropharmacology and its intersection with BIPOC communities. With Dr. Patterson as a scientist and instructor who aims to learn from and include students of all minority identities, and my identity as a young Black woman, we were determined to utilize our strong backgrounds in science and BIPOC issues to develop course material that would support the learning of future NEUR 3204 students.
Coupled with our curiosity to discover new concepts and enhance our prior knowledge of neuropharmacology, Dr. Patterson and I decided to explore this field from a perspective that includes racialized individuals, which is often ignored or misrepresented in neuroscience and related sciences. For our project we aimed to highlight scientific publications from BIPOC researchers and positive examples of substance usage in racialized communities.
Through Brightspace, we developed BIPOC GeNiUSeS, a page dedicated to highlighting the works of BIPOC researchers, substance usage in BIPOC communities and specialized resources for students of minority backgrounds. This explorative page includes resources to supplement content taught in class for students to imagine neuroscience in the context of racialized communities in Canada and throughout the world. Examples of elements that are found on the BIPOC GeNiUSeS page include:
- BlackinNeuro, a grass-roots organization designed to amplify and empower practicing and aspiring Black neuroscientists while partnering with non-Black allies in reaching this goal.
- A publication on cannabis usage in Ancient Chinese medicine (Brand and Zhao, 2017).
- A documentary on the cultural and historical background of the kava plant used in Pacific Islander cultures (filmed from 2015-19).
Additionally, Dr. Patterson and I developed two bonus assessments to encourage students to further engage with the course content. The first is a bonus quiz testing students on a documentary about the history and cultural relevance of the red willow plant (tobacco) for Indigenous communities based in Minnesota (Reclaiming Sacred Tobacco in Minnesota’s Indigenous Communities, 2017). A final bonus assessment was included to challenge students’ EDI and research skills. In this assessment, students have the opportunity to re-create a similar project that I conducted throughout this program, investigating scientific articles and art expressions concerning BIPOC communities and substance usage.
Final Words
In concluding this reflection, I am grateful to have collaborated with Dr. Patterson in supporting my goal in impacting racialized students in neuroscience. As well, I am thankful to Carleton University’s Teaching and Learning Services for providing the Students as Partners Program and related research opportunities in supporting student and staff research on course design.
As a science student, this project has challenged my research abilities and supported my professional development skills. I am hopeful these course materials will impact future students in their understanding of substance usage, addiction and the significance of including racialized scientists and their communities in conversations concerning neuropharmacology.
*GeNiUSeS is spelt this way using elements from the Periodic Table of Elements.