Culturally-sustaining, relevant, and responsive (CSRR) pedagogical practices—curricula that center student cultural capital—positively impact student academic outcomes, including increased interest and engagement. While CSRR has been widely implemented in non-science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) classrooms, where content often connects with students' lived experiences, it remains under-researched and under-utilized in STEM contexts. Researchers have identified several barriers to implementing CSRR pedagogy, including challenges in designing activities that are culturally-informed, a lack of institutional support, and concerns about student pushback. However, less is known about how instructors in STEM fields, particularly in biology, conceptualize and enact CSRR practices in their classrooms.

To address this gap, we conducted 12 semi-structured interviews with biology and biology-adjacent instructors from diverse institutions across the United States. The study explores:
(a) how instructors understand CSRR,
(b) their experiences with its design and implementation,
(c) the barriers they face, and
(d) the resources they need.

Participants represent a variety of institutional contexts and faculty positions, including public, private, and emerging Hispanic-serving institutions, as well as tenured and non-tenured faculty.

For our data analysis, we plan to qualitatively analyze interviews using both deductive and inductive coding. Deductive coding will be informed by the principles of culturally-relevant, responsive, and sustaining pedagogies, allowing us to identify how instructors’ conceptualizations and classroom practices align with these frameworks. Additionally, we will employ inductive coding to identify emergent conceptual themes, practices, strategies, and barriers that do not conform to the existing CSRR theoretical principles.

By exploring how biology instructors navigate the complex and dynamic nature of CSRR pedagogy, this study aims to contribute to a deeper understanding of how to make STEM education more inclusive and responsive to student cultural diversity. Our findings will inform professional development for instructors, guide future research on CSRR pedagogy in STEM, and provide concrete insights into bridging the gap between the theory and practice of culturally-informed pedagogy in STEM higher education.

Keywords: Culture, Pedagogy, Biology, Higher Education, Instructors.