“Navigating and Applying Epistemic Integrity” as a Missing Science Practice: Re-envisioning Ethics for Both Undergraduate Chemistry Students and Instructors

Abstract

Recent national calls have emphasized the importance of undergraduate student engagement in science practices. While there have been efforts to consider the practices of professional scientists in teaching contexts, conversations integrating academic integrity and its professional analog, scientific integrity (i.e., research ethics), are relatively underexplored. In other words, the extensive research around both topics remains parallel, warranting a unified view to support students with authentic engagement in science practices. Thus, in this perspective piece, we present epistemic integrity as a missing science practice for re-envisioning and centering ethics in undergraduate-level chemistry classrooms. Responding to a greater need for specificity and practicality, we begin by operationalizing epistemic integrity for chemistry-specific contexts. Next, we offer examples of epistemic integrity for both chemistry students and instructors. Finally, we conclude with an example of how practices using epistemic integrity can be realized in an instructional laboratory setting. Modern issues are becoming more complex and the middle gray area separating what is ethically appropriate and inappropriate continues to expand. To this end, we encourage the chemistry education community to leverage epistemic integrity to advance both equity and excellence throughout the undergraduate chemistry experience.