Encouraging Equitable Participation in Ethical Data Science Discussions
Jordan T. Register, University of North Carolina at Charlotte
This paper examines the instructional strategies and pedagogical moves designed to foster equitable engagement in an ethical data science course. This course, developed to explore the intersection of data science, ethics, and sociopolitical awareness, aims to prepare students from diverse backgrounds to become critical, ethically informed decision-makers in the data science industry. The course design thus emphasizes inclusion, diversity, and social justice, equipping students to address equity issues through ethical data science practices.
The context of this paper is situated within a larger project aimed at developing frameworks for ethical reasoning in mathematics and data science contexts. In alignment with these goals, the ethical data science course leveraged real-world sociopolitical data sets and tasks structured to prompt students to consider ethical implications and practice pluralistic decision-making. This approach was intended to broaden perspectives and cultivate a collaborative classroom culture that affirms students’ varied identities and promotes meaningful discourse.
Challenges emerged regarding equitable participation, as gendered and cultural dynamics influenced engagement in technical versus sociopolitical discussions. Initially, male and Asian students engaged more readily in technical discussions, whereas females and marginalized students hesitated to participate, particularly on ethical and sociopolitical topics. To counter these disparities, the instructor introduced the following three key moves:
- Co-establish the desired social norms for discourse
- Collaboratively define equitable participation and why it is important
- Make explicit that there are no present experts on ethical data science in the classroom environment
These strategies allowed students to reshape their engagement, encouraging both dominant voices to share space and quieter students to contribute. By positioning students as co-creators of discourse norms and valuing their lived experiences, the course fostered a participatory environment conducive to diverse viewpoints and collective understanding.
Ultimately, this paper presents actionable insights for promoting equitable participation across educational contexts, particularly in statistics and ethics-oriented curricula, by creating a hybridized learning environment that values all students’ voices and experiences.
