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AO. Smell of the physical space and its objects.

AO: This brief excerpt from a mainstream media newspaper article (digital, no less) speaks of the affective relationship the author has to the library and archives through his sense of smell. It...Read more

Collections At a Glance

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Sputnik Spurs Passage of the National Defense Education Act

From Collections
Publics: Exclusions & Inclusions in STEM Education

Webpage from the US Senate "Historical Highlights 1941-1963" about how the launch of the Sputnik in 1957 led to massive investment in education, designed to counter "strong resistance to federal aid to education" in the Senate for decades. But why the framing as a defense act?

"On the day Sputnik first orbited the earth, the chief clerk of the Senate’s Education and Labor Committee, Stewart McClure, sent a memo to his chairman, Alabama Democrat Lister Hill, reminding him that during the last three Congresses the Senate had passed legislation for federal funding of education, but that all of those bills had died in the House. Perhaps if they called the education bill a defense bill they might get it enacted. Senator Hill—a former Democratic whip and a savvy legislative tactician—seized upon on the idea, which led to the National Defense Education Act."

Trade Books: Scientists' Stories

From Collections:
Stories: People & Portraits
STE(A)MM: Creative Commoning
Publics: Inclusions & Exclusions in STEM Education

This is a collage made on Canva of book covers from the list "Outstanding Science Trade Books for Students K–12: 2022" published annually by the National Science Teaching Association (NSTA). 

The collection will comprise of found and created educator and practitioner biographies that aspire to create and mobilize STEM publics. This example represents the dilemma of the collection: How to make biographies while pushing back the narrative of the individual genius? How to tell stories about particular individuals and not reify their characterization?

EcoEd at RPI

From Collections
EcoEd: Legacies & Futures
STE(A)MM: Creative Commoning
CritSTEM: Openings & Obstacles

The EcoED program at RPI, New York. Started in 2012, the program connected undergraduate students at RPI to school students to bring "environmentally-focused" education into the K-12 classroom. Students from different majors designed environmental curricula oriented around complex systems and scales thinking to grapple with literacies and capacities critical to focus education as an important stakeholder in environmental advocacy and governance. As an experiment in developing educational capacities, the EcoEd program is a critical opening in thinking about what kind of science and science teaching is needed for complex problems. 

Creating Balance in an Unjust World Cover

From Collections:
Collectives: Action & Activism

Screenshot of the cover image of the conference Creating Balance in an Unjust World, in its 9th iteration. The 3-day conference brings together
educators, parents, activists, scholars, and community members exploring links between social justice and mathematics education. One of their overarching themes is culturally relevant and place-based pedagogy in STEM education. 

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