Modeling Interdependence for Student Researchers

Abstract

The culture of research and innovation in academia celebrates individual achievement and accomplishment. We often teach research in a way that prizes independence, pushing students to become independent scholars, able to complete their assignments and research projects on their own. But in practice research is inherently interdependent. We are concerned about the ways that our teaching may over-value independence, exclude and harm marginalized students, give false impressions about how scholarship is already produced, and limit the possibilities for more inclusive and just futures in research. In this presentation, participants engaged with several models of interdependence to contemplate fostering much-needed interconnection and inclusion in the research classroom.