The following infographic has a lot of information and advice about how to get the most our of your STEM textbook. However, the advice about reading and using your textbook applies to many non-STEM courses as well.
To download the full size image, click here.
Who is a scientist or a mathematician? Who are scientists/mathematicians as humans? There are so many more scientists and mathematicians in the world than just the small number whose names make it into your textbook. I often enjoy learning the stories of other scientists and mathematicians both their professional contributions but also their human stories. It helps me remember that every one of us has a story and that math and science are a journey.
One podcast that I enjoy finding such stories on is NPR’s Short Wave. Each episode is about 15 minutes long. Below are a few of my current favorite episodes from Short Wave. I’ll try to keep this list updated.
Another great Podcast for telling stories of mathematicians and scientists is Story Collider. If you use the link to get to their website, you can filter their stories by category. Also, if you access the podcast through the website, you can find full transcripts of each episode.
Additionally, here’s a Planet Money discussing Computer Science and the gender shift. Did you know that historically Computer Science was a more female dominated discipline? However, in the mid-1980’s there were a huge shift and the percentage of women in computer science dropped dramatically! The first podcast talks about the shift in the 1980’s and the second two articles are about the historical women who contributed to computer science in the early days:
When Computer Coding Was a Woman’s Job (History Channel)
If you have a go-to Podcast, TED talk, or YouTube video/channel for STEM motivation and STEM stories, please use the contact us form below to let me know and I will add it to this post.
Both imposter syndrome and stereotype threat are common barriers to fulfilling our full potential. They are related but not quite the same. Imposter syndrome involves feeling like you aren’t as capable or qualified as the people around you. This might play out in the classroom as thinking that the rest of the students are better prepared or smarter than you. People suffering from imposter syndrome often think that a high grade on an assignment is either a mistake or a fluke. Stereotype threat involves feeling that you represent an entire group, and further, that if you perform poorly on a task or assignment this will reflect poorly on the entire group. Anxiety about performance then negatively influences your ability to actually perform your best on the task.
See the two videos below to learn more about imposter syndrome and stereotype threat and how to combat these feelings. The good news is that cultivating a growth mindset is an awesome way to work towards overcoming feelings of imposter syndrome and stereotype threat. Check out some information about growth minset here.
Video about overcoming imposter syndrome (~5 minutes):
A slightly longer (but great) video on stereotype threat:
Do you ever find yourself feeling like you’re not a math/science person? Or maybe that your left-brained dominate? Or that you’re just more naturally gifted at some subjects versus others? These thoughts stem from what is known as a fixed mindset as opposed to a growth mindset. Remember that none of us are born good at anything. Every skill you have now is something that you have been practicing and learning for an extended period of time. This means that in order to get good at new things, you just have to keep practicing. The idea of practicing in order to learn new skills is known as the growth mindset. So, maybe you aren’t good at physics yet, but with enough practice you will continue to get better at physics.
Below you will find an infographic and several videos on cultivating a growth mindset.
Videos on cultivating a growth mindset:
In the infographic below, we will break down the key parts of a general chemistry abstract and then critique a three examples of abstracts and figures. *Clicking the link will open the infographic in a new tab in your browser.*
