- Year 2024
- NSF Noyce Award # 1852908
- First Name Michael
- Last Name Matthews
- Institution University of Nebraska at Omaha
- Role/Position Co-PI
- Proposal Type Workshop
- Workshop Category Track 1: Scholarships and Stipends
- Workshop Disciplines Audience Mathematics
- Target Audience Noyce Master Teachers, Noyce Teaching Fellows, Undergraduate and/or Graduate Noyce Scholars
- Topics Culturally Relevant Pedagogy
Goals
Participants who attend this session will be able to share famous and unheralded stories from the lives of scientists, engineers, technology specialists, and mathematicians in ways that help K-12 students build their own STEM identities.
Evidence
Education researchers and theorists have long realized the potential for teaching the history of STEM disciplines alongside the content and have found promising results supporting the impact of this practice (see for example work by Fouad Abd-El-Khalick and Norman Lederman, 2000 and Daniel Doz, 2021). I have taught the History of Mathematics for more than 12 years. STEM stories, both heralded and unheralded, are a major component of the course. Course evaluation data shows this component is the highest valued by the students. However, the personal experiences that my students, now K-12 teachers, share with me are the most compelling. One student even has started her own History of Math class that is an elective in her private Catholic school and has 15–20 students taking it a year.
Proposal
From Hypatia’s myths inspiring Sophie Germain’s to study mathematics in the shadow of the guillotine, to Leibniz’ incredible vision to bridge hatred and the establishment of the great European Science Academies, from Ampere losing his electricity solution on the back of a taxi, to Katherine Johnson’s conquering racism in Hidden Figures and helping man reach the moon, the world of STEM history is full of motivational stories. These STEM stories can be used to inspire students to pursue their dreams, work together, embrace their quirkiness, and fight oppression and on the way help build their STEM identities. In this workshop I will share some amazing stories, both heralded and unheralded, that teach a moral about what a STEM student can do, can be, and can become. You, the participant will be invited to share some of the STEM stories you tell or plan on telling when helping build your students STEM identities. I will finally share some resources that I have gathered and developed over the years to help support telling of STEM stories.
