Impacting Culturally Responsive Teaching Strategies by Decreasing Bias Through Simulation Experiences
10.3280/exioa2-2022oa15077
Simulated teaching environments have been used for more than two decades and are likely to continue to expand to meet the demands of teacher development programs. In this study, the self-reported changes in culturally-responsive teaching perceptions of ten classroom teachers serving more than six hundred students are reported. This paper includes first year findings from a program designed to use artificial-intelligence (AI) based algorithms to reduce implicit bias in teaching. Findings from this study include significant pre-post increases for self-efficacy related to culturally responsive teaching as well as instructional self-efficacy. These findings add credibility to the contention that a key innovation of using simulation programs for teacher professional development is that it provides teachers and teacher trainees many learning trials with simulated students, thereby increasing teacher confidence and competence, and which in turn will improve student learning. Findings set the stage for measuring the impact on student perceptions of learning and cultural engagement intended to support teachers in recognizing and ameliorating their own implicit biases.
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Gerald Knezek
Excellence and Innovation in Learning and Teaching - Open Access
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Impacting Culturally Responsive Teaching Strategies by Decreasing Bias Through Simulation Experiences
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Gerald Knezek
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Walker, A., Shafer, J., & Iiams, M. (2004). “Not in my classroom”: Teacher attitudes towards English language learners in the mainstream classroom. National Association for Bilingual Education Journal of Research and Practice, 2, 130-160.
Impacting Culturally Responsive Teaching Strategies by Decreasing Bias Through Simulation Experiences
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Saggi e ricerche

Impacting Culturally Responsive Teaching
Strategies by Decreasing Bias Through Simulation
Experiences
Rhonda Christensen, Gerald Knezek*



Abstract
Simulated teaching environments have been used for more than two decades
and are likely to continue to expand to meet the demands of teacher
development programs. In this study, the self-reported changes in culturally-
responsive teaching perceptions of ten classroom teachers serving more than
six hundred students are reported. This paper includes first year findings from
a program designed to use artificial-intelligence (AI) based algorithms to
reduce implicit bias in teaching. Findings from this study include significant
pre-post increases for self-efficacy related to culturally responsive teaching as
well as instructional self-efficacy. These findings add credibility to the
contention that a key innovation of using simulation programs for teacher
professional development is that it provides teachers and teacher trainees many
learning trials with simulated students, thereby increasing teacher confidence
and competence, and which in turn will improve student learning. Findings set
the stage for measuring the impact on student perceptions of learning and
cultural engagement intended to support teachers in recognizing and
ameliorating their own implicit biases.

Keywords: simulated teaching, reduce bias, teachers, culturally responsive,
artificial intelligence



Article submitted: 20/09/2022; accepted: 15/11/2022
Available online: 20/12/2022



*
    University of North Texas.

Excellence and Innovation in Learning and Teaching (ISSNe 2499-507X), 2022, 2

Doi: 10.3280/exioa2-2022oa15077




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                              please see: http://creativecommons.org
Introduction

    Classrooms are becoming more diverse as they reflect the society in which
we live. Gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and English language
learning status have been linked to differences in teacher perceptions of
students for whom they may hold implicit negative attitudes and stereotypes
(McGinnis, 2017). To address the diversity of differences, educators need to
actively recognize and counter patterns of bias in their teaching practices as
well as classroom environments (Chen et al., 2009).
    Danielson (1996) surmised that a typical teacher makes up to 3,000
important decisions during a day of instruction, many of which have varying
impacts on different types of learners in the classroom. It is imperative that
educators provide a culturally responsive environment for all students to be
confident in their learning (Derman-Sparks & Ramsey, 2000). Cultural
responsiveness requires looking beyond teachers’ own beliefs, cultures,
perspectives and practices to being able to understand where implict biases may
exist and how they can be overcome. Operationally, teachers need to be able to
plan and deliver culturally responsive instructional challenges and supports that
build on the strengths of students to address their learning needs (Sianjina,
2000). Teachers need to be able to assess students after an instructional activity
and analyze student results, enabling adjustments to their instructional practices
(Girod & Schalock, 2002).
    This paper explores the use of a simulated teaching program to enable
educators to recognize, reflect and remediate implicit biases that may exist in
their teaching practices. Specifically, the paper addresses how the personal
attributes of a teacher can be recognized, assessed and related back to teaching
practices in an unobtrusive environment where underlying biases can be
identified, acknowledged and remediated.


Background and Supporting Literature

Effects of Implicit Bias on Students

   Demographics of teachers often do not reflect the growing classroom
diversity; the educators serving these diverse students are predominantly white,
female and middle class (Taie & Goldring, 2020) and have been found to infuse
their teaching with implicit and explicit biases that may benefit one group to
the detriment of another (Gay & Howard, 2000). K-12 teachers in the US today
continue to be under-represented by minorities (US Dept. of Ed., 2016) which
has an overall negative impact on diversity in the pursuit of careers and income

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potential (NSTC 2018). Even the most dedicated educators hold beliefs and
stereotypes that impact their students’ learning. Ethnicity, native language,
gender, and economic status have all been linked to teacher biases (McGinnis,
2017) and the negative impact of stereotypes may be additive (Copur-Gencturk
et al., 2019). If unexamined, these beliefs can be harmful to students.
    Implicit bias is described as the attitudes or stereotypes that affect our
understanding, actions and decisions in an unconscious manner (McGinnis,
2017; Staats, 2015-16). Most neuroscientists agree that the majority of our
cognitive processing occurs unconsciously (Soon et al., 2008). Because implicit
associations are unconscious, implicit biases do not necessarily align with our
explicit beliefs and stated intentions (Staats, 2015-16). Personal history and
experiences may lead teachers to directly or indirectly attribute those
experiences to students they teach (Graham, 2017). While we may not be aware
these biases exist, they can have a significant impact on decision making. Some
situations in which we are likely to rely on our subconscious for decision
making involve ambiguous or incomplete information, the presence of time
constraints in addition to fatigue or an overloaded mind (Bertrand et al., 2005).
Given that teachers are often in these situations, it is not difficult to imagine
that implicit biases may be contributing to their decisions (Staats, 2015-16)
regarding how they interact with students along lines of gender, socio-
economic status, ethnicity, and language proficiency. It is critical to identify
evidence of these kinds of biases in instructional decision-making in order to
foster supportive conversations with practitioners and build skills for culturally
responsive teaching (Gauthier et al., 2022).
    Gender and race are known to intersect to create inequitable interaction
patterns; girls of color are least likely to receive teacher time and attention
(Sadker et al., 2016). Providing teachers with objective information about the
gender distribution of their interactions with documented behavioral changes
over time during repeated similar teaching situations can improve gender biases
that may exist.
    Research has shown that teachers generally have lower expectations of their
students living in poverty (Hecht & Greenfield, 2002). Of all the children living
in poverty, the poverty rate for Black children (31%) and Hispanic children
(26%) is higher than the rates for White and Asian children (10%) (de Brey et
al., 2019). Research has shown that implicit biases such as teachers’
expectations for particular students can harm academic outcomes for minority
students, perhaps explaining differing racial achievement gaps (van den Bergh
et al., 2010). Minority students are more often referred for Individualized
Education Plans (IEPs; U.S. Dept. of Ed., 2021).
    English Language Learners are defined as students who have sufficient
difficulty speaking, reading, writing, or understanding the English language to

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be able to learn successfully in classrooms or to participate fully to society (de
Brey et al., 2019). In one large study regarding teacher attitudes toward ELL,
70% of the respondents were not interested in having these students in their
classrooms and 51% did not intend to pursue additional training (Walker et al.,
2004). There is also a negative perception toward multilingual learners in
Europe and a lack of focus on preparing teachers to work with these learners
(Erling et al., 2022. Of particular interest, one study found that mainstream
teachers’ implicit beliefs about ELL were negative while their explicit beliefs
were more positive with these contradictions likely influencing the deliberate,
conscious and spontaneous choices teachers make each day (Gawronski &
Bodenhausen, 2006). Most classroom teachers have little or no training in
adapting their teaching practices to meet the needs of linguistically diverse
students (Walker et al., 2004).

Teacher Self-efficacy and Student Learning

    The concept of perceived self-efficacy is rooted in social cognitive theory
and is “concerned with judgments about how well one can organize and execute
courses of action required to deal with prospective situations containing many
ambiguous, unpredictable, and often stressful elements” (Bandura & Schunk,
1981, p 587). An individual’s perception of ability to impact a situation is
critical for whether or not they actually do affect change (Bandura, 2012).
Teachers’ beliefs about their ability to make a difference for students impacts
their resilience and persistence in difficult situations (Gibson & Dembo, 1984).
    Many research studies have found that a teacher’s sense of self-efficacy was
one of the variables highly related to student achievement (Tucker et al., 2005).
Teachers with high self-efficacy are more likely to believe their teaching can
impact student learning while teachers with low self-efficacy are more likely to
look for solutions outside the classrooms (Soodak & Podell, 1994). One way
that teachers can develop their self-efficacy is by understanding the needs of
learners in the classroom with strategies to teach them. “Teachers who believe
that student learning can be influenced by effective teaching despite home and
peer influence and who have confidence in their ability to teach persist longer
in their teaching, efforts, provide greater academic focus in the classroom, give
different types of feedback, and ultimately improve student performance”
(Tucker et al., 2005, p. 29).
    Researchers have identified connections between teachers’ sense of
efficacy, culturally responsive pedagogy (Callaway, 2016), and student
achievement (Oyerinde, 2008; Tucker et al., 2005).
    Research on teacher efficacy and its relationship with culturally responsive
teaching illustrates a need to address teacher self-efficacy with respect to

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working with children from diverse backgrounds (APA, 2012; Oyerinde, 2008;
Tucker et al., 2005). Efforts to increase teacher efficacy are vital in increasing
the low academic achievement among culturally diverse students (Callaway,
2016; Tucker et al., 2005). Highly efficacious teachers have more persistence
when helping struggling students, and they create lessons designed to engage
their students (Kitsantas, 2012).

Using Simulation Experiences to Improve Teaching Strategies

    Simulations mimic a simplified version of the real world allowing
intentional design features to focus on specific features of interest for
instruction. These “approximations of practice” (Grossman et al., 2009) allow
users to try out strategies and receive targeted feedback in a scaffolded way in
a low-stakes environment. Badiee (2012) identified four advantages to
simulation based teaching: (a) classroom decision-making, (b) practice through
repeating, receiving feedback and advice, (c) self-efficacy in classroom
teaching, and (d) collaborations and social interactions. Fischler (2006) added
that simulation based learning had great potential in education by allowing
educators to act within virtual environments, immediately applying theory to
realistic yet controlled settings. The use of simulations in many areas including
equity-based teaching has recently increased (Chen et al., 2021; Littenberg-
Tobias et al., 2021).
    Studies that have focused on improving teaching practices through
simulations include changes in equity mindsets and in self-reported equity-
promoting practices (Littenberg-Tobias et al., 2021), more confidence in
classroom skills, (Smith & Klumper, 2018), and teacher self-efficacy (Knezek
& Christensen, 2009; Samuelsson et al., 2021). In addition, studies using
simulations have found improvement in instructional teaching skills
(Christensen et al., 2011; Lee & Ahn, 2021), classroom management
(Christensen et al, 2007), motivation (Tyler-Wood et al., 2010, multicultural
awareness literacy (Collum et al., 2019), and reduction of educator bias
(Collum et al., 2020).
    While not replacing classroom experiences, simulations are intended to
extend and enhance opportunities to experience different types of students in a
near real world environment. The key innovation of using simulation programs
for preparing teachers is that it provides teachers and teacher trainees many
learning trials with simulated students, thereby increasing confidence and
competence, which in turn improves student learning. Repetition of many trials
is important in changing habit complexes such as implicit bias (Malone, 2016).
    Culturally responsive educators adopt the view that all students are capable
of successes shown to be critical for student growth (Boser et al., 2014).

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Culturally responsive teaching challenges educators to recognize that, rather
than deficits, students bring strengths into the classroom that should be
leveraged to make learning experiences more relevant and effective for students
(Muniz, 2019). A simulated teaching environment allows for comparing self-
reported bias indicators to objective measures produced by teaching within the
simulator.
   Three research questions focused on the teachers’ use of a simulation tool,
simSchool, guided this study.
1. To what extent can teaching in a simulated environment produce measurable
   changes regarding educator implicit bias with respect to visual
   characteristics (such as skin color and gender)?
2. To what extent can algorithm-based identification of – and prompted
   reflection on – educator biases in simulated teaching practices be decreased?
3. To what extent do simulation experiences impact participant measures
   related to teacher instructional self-efficacy, culturally awareness self-
   efficacy and educator bias related to teaching practices?


Methods

Participants

    For the pilot year of a three-year project, twenty teachers were selected from
the 47 who applied. Criteria that guided the selection process was
representation from each of the three geographical areas of the state that were
part of the school system, as well as at least two teachers from the same school,
if possible. Each of the participants attended an introductory Zoom session to
get started in simSchool with additional support from the team if needed. Of
the 20 who participated, ten completed all components necessary for the study.
Findings reported in this study are from the ten teachers who completed both
pre and posttest survey data as well as all the required simulation modules.

Intervention

   SimSchool is a dynamic, online classroom simulation program that allows
preservice and inservice teachers the opportunity to practice teaching.
SimSchool was designed to provide future and current teachers with a safe
environment for experimenting and practicing techniques, especially methods
of addressing different learning needs, and wide variations in academic and
behavioral performance of students.
   SimSchool promotes pedagogical expertise by re-creating the complexities

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of classroom decisions through mathematical representations of how people
learn and what teachers do when teaching. SimSchool’s underlying artificial
intelligence model includes research-based psychological, sensory and
cognitive domains. The Five-Factor Model of psychology (McCrae & Costa,
1996) serves as the foundation of the student personality spectrum. This model
includes the characteristics of extroversion, agreeableness, persistence,
emotional stability, and intellectual openness. A simplified sensory model
component with auditory, visual and kinesthetic perceptual preferences
comprises the physical domain. Together the physical, emotional and academic
factors were demonstrated to represent salient elements of classroom teaching
and learning (Christensen et al., 2011; Gibson, 2007).
    As shown in Figure 1, simSchool users have options to review detailed
student profiles before or during any session. Through the “Teach” button,
users select which students to assign activities, either as individuals, groups, or
as a whole class. The simSchool user can also make different types of
comments through the “Talk” button in which they can encourage, redirect or
discipline students. The “Progress” button allows the user to see how each
student is performing in multiple dimensions including academics and
emotions. The “Logs” button allows the user to see how the class and each
individual student performed for each action the user selected. These features
provide a robust system that allows each user to see the overall performance in
the simulator after it is complete. Users are able to reflect and make corrections
prior to beginning another session within the module with the intention of
improving their teaching performances.

Figure 1 - SimSchool Classroom Highlighting Student Profiles.




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    While refining their own best practices in this “flight simulator for teachers,”
simSchool participants are encouraged to interact with this cognitive model
over several sessions spanning several weeks, with micro-teaching interactions
lasting from 15 to 30 minutes. Each module focuses on a different aspect of
teaching and ranges from classroom management to Pre-calculus. Prior to
beginning the sessions, users review the student profiles that contain
information on student strengths, preferences and academic performance so
they can attempt to match instruction with learner needs. During the sessions,
participants adapt their teaching to the diversity of students they encounter. At
the end of each simulation session, participants receive graphical feedback
displaying degree of success at promoting academic (learning) increase in the
class overall, as well as feedback regarding the degree of suitability of the
instructional activities selected for each individual simulated student in the
class. This feedback can reveal aspects of a teacher’s implicit biases. Figure 2
illustrates the complex capabilities of simSchool.
    Experiences in the simulated teaching environment allow teachers to
recognize and reflect on implicit biases they may have that impact teaching
strategies related to diverse learners, revealing possible cognitive dissonance
related to inconsistencies in teaching behaviors versus beliefs. Following the
simulated teaching session, users are provided with detailed post-hoc analysis
of teaching patterns disaggregated by race and gender. Following the reflective
feedback, teachers begin a new simulated teaching session with the intention of
adjusting their teaching strategies to address specific learner needs. Multiple
iterations are provided with the intention that improvements in teaching
strategies occur due to the ability to “teach” in a system in which student
variables are held constant in that they respond the same way (within systems
dynamics boundaries) each time a teaching action is introduced. Thus,
simSchool provides a non-invasive platform for researching impacts of
alternative teaching behaviors.

Instrumentation

   Data related to implicit bias were collected from three sources. First, the
simSchool program gathers and retains the data that is used to give debriefing
and feedback to the participating educators. A second source of data included
demographic and self-report self-efficacy and culturally relevant teaching
measures gathered from the participating teachers.
   Three teacher measures were included in this study. User data from the
simSchool program contained information for each session from each of the
modules. In addition, teacher survey measures focused on self-efficacy,
culturally responsive teaching, and self-awareness of bias were collected pre-

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post within the simSchool program. These surveys included:
1. The Teachers’ Sense of Efficacy Scale (TSES) (Tschannen-Moran & Hoy,
   2001) measured self-efficacy related to three subscales: instructional
   strategies, classroom management, and student engagement.
2. The Culturally Responsive Self-Efficacy Survey (Siwatu, 2007) determined
   the level of competency in the skills and knowledge needed to engage in
   culturally responsive teaching that includes curriculum, assessment,
   classroom management and cultural enrichment.
3. Three scales from the Educator Bias Inventory (Collum et al., 2020)
   included: Self-Awareness, Pedagogical environment, and Relationships
   with families and community adapted from Chen et al. (2009).

Figure 2 - Model of Individual Learning Characteristics in SimSchool




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   Classroom teachers participated in one of two sets of modules depending on
the grade level taught. The listing of the modules by grade level band is shown
in Table 1.

Table 1 - Modules Completed by Classroom Teachers
 Elementary teacher modules
    Cultural Intelligence and Inclusion 2.0
    ELE 3-5 Bullying and Bias the First Coconut Tree
    ELE 3-5 Gender and Identity Supermom Saves the Day Why Can't Girls Be Superheros
 Middle School Modules
    MS 6-8 Gender and Identity: The Misfits
    MS 6-8 History Empowering Learners to Change the World
    MS 6-8 (Race, Ethnicity, Class, Immigration) A Tale of Two Schools

   Figures 3 and 4 illustrate examples of graphical feedback and an observation
report that participants received. Participants were required to view feedback
prior to completing another session in the module.

Figure 3 - SimSchool Graphical Feedback Based on Interactions with Students




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Figure 4 - SimSchool Observation Report Based on Participant Actions in the Simulated
Classroom




Results

Results from self-report data

    Data were collected both during the simulations and through pre-post
surveys related to teacher efficacy and educator bias. As shown in Table 2, there
were significant (p < .05) positive changes from pre to post for Efficacy for
Instructional Strategies as well as Culturally Responsive Teaching Self-
efficacy. Near to significance was the Educator Bias Inventory subscale of
Pedagogical environment. Since the data set only included 10 teachers who
completed pre-post assessments as well as all the modules, effect size becomes
a meaningful indicator of gain because it is largely independent of whether or
not the change observed (given small n) could be concluded to be rare by
chance (p < .05). As shown in Table 2, the effect sizes were all educationally
meaningful at .30 and above (Bialo & Sivin-Kachala, 1996). Eight individual
items that were significant (p < .05) each produced a large effect size indicating


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that there were significant improvements in adjusting lessons and the
environment to support diverse learners.

Table 2 - Comparison of Pre and Post Teacher Means for Equity-Related Subscales
                                     Pretest                 Post test             Signif. ES
                                      Mea                                            (p)
         Subscale               N       n      SD      N       Mean        SD
 Efficacy for Instructional      10 4.90        .49     10         5.26      .38 .016*         .93
 Strategies
 Efficacy for Classroom          10 4.75        .66     10         5.14      .48 .078          .63
 Management
 Efficacy for Student            10 4.63        .61     10         5.18      .51 .071          .65
 Engagement
 Culturally Responsive           10 4.80        .50     10         5.25      .39 .040*         .76
 Teaching Self-Efficacy
 Survey
 Educator Bias Inventory:        10 5.33        .40     10         5.40      .38 .279          .36
 Self Awareness
 Educator Bias Inventory:        10 5.14        .51     10         5.36      .39 .055          .70
 Pedagogical
 Environment
 Educator Bias Inventory:        10 4.45 1.03           10         4.87      .43 .203          .43
 Relationship with
 families and community
Note: * Significant at the p = .05 level. Cohen’s (1988) effect size guidelines .2 = small, .5 =
moderate, .8 = large.

Results from the Simulation Data

   Data included objective performance statistics generated from the
simSchool program. Teaching behaviors captured unobtrusively allowed
computation of academic gains, emotional gains, and equity gains during
teaching. The analyzed data included the gains for the first and last attempts in
each of the modules. Paired t-tests showed a significant difference for the equity
index for one of the modules (p < .024). Aggregated across teachers, equity
gains by module ranged in magnitude from effect size = .22 to effect size = .87,
the latter of which was individually significant at the p < .05 level and would
be considered large according to guidelines by Cohen (1988). Most of the
modules showed positive gains. Future research with larger sample sizes is
anticipated to reconfirm magnitudes of reported effects while enhancing the
prospects that additional modules will individually reach p < .05 levels of
significance.




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Summary and Discussion

    Findings from this study included significant pre-post increases for self-
efficacy related to culturally responsive teaching as well as instructional self-
efficacy. In addition, all the pre-post scale measures were educationally
meaningful with an effect size range from .36 to .93. Participating in modules
that included feedback on teaching strategies indicated significant changes in
the equity index that is based on multiple indicators of equity such as gender
and skin color. These findings add credibility to the contention that a key
innovation of using simulation programs for teacher professional development
is that it provides current and future teachers with the opportunity to practice
multiple times within a safe environment with simulated students, thereby
increasing teacher confidence and competence, and which in turn will improve
student learning. These findings set the stage for measuring the impact on
student perceptions of learning and cultural engagement intended to support
teachers in recognizing and ameliorating their own implicit biases. Limitations
of this study include the small sample of teachers that completed each of the
parts required to be full participants. While the small numbers still exhibited
significant changes, additional studies are planned to include a larger number
of participants.
    Approximately 200,000 new teachers enter the field in the US each year,
many underprepared for the complex and demanding role of classroom teacher
(Atteberry et al., 2015). New teachers have reported that classroom
management issues of student behaviors are the biggest source of stress in early
teaching and likely contributes to high attrition (Aloe et al., 2014). Teacher
preparation programs have struggled to ensure that all preservice teachers
receive consistent experiences in field-based teaching (Ronfeldt, 2015). The
main goal of practice-based teaching is to allow teacher candidates to apply
educational coursework theories and techniques to a real classroom. However,
assuring they have the highest quality experiences is a challenge. Simulation
teaching experiences can provide opportunities to try and retry techniques and
strategies prior to going into the classroom, to supplement and enhance the in-
person field-based experiences.


4. Implications for Teacher Education

   Given the impact of COVID-19 on preservice and inservice programs,
simulated teaching environments are likely to continue to expand to meet the
demands of teacher development programs. The experiences provided in the
simulated teaching program help bridge the gap between theories and

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classroom practice while providing scaffolded enhancement of teaching
pedagogical knowledge and skills in academic, emotional and equitable
domains.
    In addition, simulated teaching experiences can provide preservice teachers
with opportunities to encounter diverse students that they otherwise may never
encounter in their field-based experiences. The recognized importance of socio-
emotional stability for the long-term well-being of current teachers and future
productive citizens of our society has spotlighted the urgency of research on
programs that allow users and researchers to focus on mitigation of implicit
bias. Innovative solutions offer the prospect of finding a timely contribution to
a significant problem in schools.

Acknowledgement: This research was funded in part by NSF Grant # 2118849.
Description of Duties: Rhonda Christensen led the conceptualization,
literature review and data analysis portions of the paper. Gerald Knezek assisted
in the research design, delimiting focus for the paper, and in interpretation of
findings. Both authors contributed to all drafts and manuscript revisions.


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