The 7 Forms of Bias Protocol  

An Individual Reflection and Team Discussion Tool for Examining Bias in Instructional Materials

by Dr. Hayden Frederick-Clarke

Step 1: Individual Analysis

Read The 7 Forms of Bias document by the Sadker Foundation. Once finished, examine the proposed instructional artifact/material (text, media, etc.) and respond to the following prompts:

  1. Is there any bias present in this example?

  2. If so, what kind(s)?

  3. List/describe explicit examples of each bias that you perceive.

Use the attached Graphic Organizer to organize/record your thoughts.


Step 2: Group Critical Analysis

Using The 7 Forms of Bias document and accompanying Graphic Organizer as guides, discuss your responses to prompts “a”, “b”, and “c” (above) with your colleague(s):

  1. Explain to your colleague(s) which biases you perceived along with your rationale for each.

  2. Who do you think benefits from this bias/these biases? **

Step 3: “Digging Deeper”/Exploration for Varied or Hidden Narratives

Please explore some background and/or surrounding content of the proposed material/artifact that explicitly offers an additional, different, and/or especially opposing perspective to it.


Step 4: Individual Reflection

Reflect on your responses to the prompts from #1. Has your research influenced your thoughts on any of those prompts? If not, articulate why not. 


Step 5: Group Reflection

Please confer with a colleague or preferably a relevant professional team to discuss and defend your position.


Step 6: Group Lesson Amendment or Supplementation

Can you individually or collectively think of a way to edit the lesson artifact/material or structure a classroom discussion around it so that any bias that you have perceived is addressed?


Necessary Guidelines

  1. This protocol is specifically intended for non-fiction materials or information presented as factual.

  2. Element “d” of number 1 is arguably the most important question because it offers the richest opportunities for staff/ students’ critical engagement with course content. Please do not skip it for the sake of expediency.

  3. Be careful not to project your own bias onto lesson artifacts. Just because you do not like a set of facts or realities presented therein, that does not mean that the artifact itself is biased.

  4. This activity is not intended to be exclusively for adults. Students should be involved in the critique and analysis of their course materials wherever and whenever possible.

  5. In order to search for conflicting, nuanced, or varied narratives and/or perspectives necessary for Step #2 above, practitioners should use an “intersectional” lens to investigate the artifact, topic, event, etc. In other words, examine it  through the constructs of race, gender, class, and sexual orientation.

  6. It is the position of our organization that bias should be engaged, NOT removed. Critical reading and research are the underlying goals of this activity, NOT censorship or sanitization.