CATHY DRENNAN: So I'm Cathy Drennan.
I'm a Professor of Chemistry and Biology
here at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
I'm also an investigator and professor with the Howard
Hughes Medical Institute.
And I just wanted to give a little introduction
to the training video you're about to watch, this workshop
that we've developed, that is on the topic of stereotype,
stereotype threat, Why Is Criticism Unconscious Bias.
And so in this workshop you're about to see,
this is the workshop that we run for teacher training
at MIT, both in the biology department
and in the chemistry department.
So most of the people in this room
are about to go on an adventure of teaching for the first time
here at MIT.
So I'm going to talk about the motivation
for doing this workshop actually in the workshop.
But let me just tell you the goals for a minute.
So we want the people who are going
to be teaching our students here to know about stereotypes,
know about stereotype threat, feel comfortable with terms
such as wise criticism, know some of the data
behind the idea that stereotype threat can actually
lead to underperformance by students,
and think about how do you create
an environment in your classroom where every student can reach
their full potential.
So that's what this training is about.
And we hope the students coming out the other end
are going to be really excited about their classroom
experience and how they're going to create this environment
for every student.
So although this training is really
designed for teaching assistants,
we found that this material is broadly applicable.
It can be used to train faculty members.
It can be used to train mentors in a research laboratory.
It can be used to become a better student oneself
or a better mentee oneself.
It's really for everyone.
And it relates to everyone.
So I'm hoping at the end of watching this video,
that maybe you will feel comfortable enough
with this material that you might start these discussions
at your home institution.
So I'm going to make available to you
both this workshop on videotape, all of the slides
that you're about to see, a booklet
with more information for you to read
and exercises in it, references in it.
It can be used--
people can read about this before they do a workshop.
We're hoping to have this discussion just sort
of spread all over the place.
And I know what some of you are thinking.
It's like, no way, I cannot lead this discussion myself.
But you know, that's what I used to think.
And everyone can talk about these things.
Sometimes it makes us feel a little uncomfortable to talk
about things like stereotypes.
But we can talk about them.
We need to talk about them.
And after watching this video, we
hope that you'll be ready to start a discussion of your own.
So it's important to do this.
It's an important time to be having these discussions,
because there are a lot of problems in the world.
And in addition to being a professor,
I'm a mom of a 10-year-old.
And I can tell you, I'm really worried about the planet
that she's going to be inheriting.
There's global warming.
There's warming of oceans.
There's antibiotic resistance.
We need smart people to be thinking about these problems.
We need scientists to be thinking about these problems.
So we need everyone who wants to be a scientist
to be able to reach their full potential so that we can tackle
these important problems moving forward.
And that's what this training is designed
to do-- start the discussion so that everyone
can be in an environment where they
can reach their full potential.
So enjoy watching.