Invisible Barriers: Broadening <scp>PSTs</scp>' Awareness of Implicit Bias in <scp>STEM</scp> Education

ABSTRACT Implicit biases are automatic thinking processes that influence the decisions and judgments we make about others based on their social characteristics, and teachers are not immune. The current study sought to develop an intervention to introduce the big ideas behind implicit racial bias to pre‐service teachers (PSTs) and explore how this instruction promotes their understanding, awareness, and reflection on the impact of implicit bias in the STEM classrooms. Study participants were PSTs ( n = 66) enrolled in an undergraduate Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) pedagogy course in a K‐6 teacher preparation program at a Hispanic Serving Institution in the United States. Data for this study was collected from two cohorts of PSTs as they engaged in a three‐lesson unit on implicit bias. Through qualitative thematic analysis of students' writing, class polls, and discussion board entries, data was triangulated and produced four major themes in response to the research questions of this study. We found that, through engagement with the intervention, PSTs developed an understanding of implicit bias, identified sources of implicit bias, reflected on their own biases, and identified potential strategies to mitigate implicit bias in their future teaching practices.