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STEM in the Classroom

eGFI – For Teachers » Lesson: The Math of Sailboat Design

eGFI – For Teachers » Lesson: The Math of Sailboat Design

The Invisible History

How can people of color or women of any color ever gain a sense of responsibility or self-esteem on this planet if they are absent, invisible and non-existent in the stories that are told of our past?  I am deeply embarrassed to have learned that I never knew about the man responsible for saving my father's life:  Vivien Thomas.  I grew up hearing about his marvelous doctors, Dr. Blalock and Dr. Taussig who performed one of the first heart bypass surgeries on my dad back in 1946.  I even got to meet Dr. Taussig at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore when I was a kid, but no one even mentioned Vivien Thomas, a black man who assisted Dr. Blalock during most of his history-making surgeries.  Dr. Blalock's photo was on the cover of Life Magazine that year, but Vivien was invisible from both photo and text.   If we wait for someone else to tell these stories, then what are we saying about racism of the past?  If we continue to remain silent, are we advocating racism in the present?  My dad was 68 years old before he was contacted by an HBO movie producer who told the story of Vivien Thomas's amazing accomplishments in Something the Lord Made starring Mos Def.  Why wasn't it my family who had been telling the story of Vivien Thomas for the past sixty years? Will you wait to hear about all of the invisible African Americans who may have had an impact on your life, or will you be the one to tell the story?

Climate Unchanged?: Really, Jan? Republicans do not believe that clim...

Climate Unchanged?: Really, Jan? Republicans do not believe that clim...: "Recently I took my Science Topics class to listen to 9th Congressional District Representative Jan Schakowsky who spoke at Niles North High ..."

Really, Jan? Republicans do not believe that climate is changing?

Recently I took my Science Topics class to listen to 9th Congressional District Representative Jan Schakowsky who spoke at Niles North High School in Skokie, IL.  Although in agreement with her campaign platform and siding with her on most issues, I wanted to ask Jan an important question.  "Why have climate change bills stalled in Congress?"  I was hoping that she could provide the inside scoop since she spends her days and sometimes nights there hashing things out behind the scenes of America.  However her succinct response was "Republicans do not believe that climate is changing."  Really, Jan?  You have got to be kidding me.  Saying that someone does not believe that climate is changing in 2010 is just as silly as saying that Republicans still believe in a geocentric solar system.  How much data do we need to provide to the Republicans to convince them that climate is changing.  Even my Science Topics students can interpret the climate data presented on graphs, and math just may be one of their weakest subjects.  Facts are facts and just because the Sun appears to be revolving around the earth, no one seems to disagree that the Sun is at the center of our solar system.  Unless hundreds of scientists have conspired to create data that intimates climate change, the fact that carbon dioxide is currently higher than it has ever been on our planet is undeniably clear.  Since temperature and carbon dioxide levels are directly proportional and always have been on our planet, I think we have a problem.  The biggest problem is that Democrats like Jan can even contemplate accepting that "Republicans do not believe that climate is changing."  Climate change bills will never pass with complacent Democrats too lazy to challenge the ignorant and untruthful excuses of the Republicans.  Why is the United States the only developed nation who is not a member of the Kyoto Protocol designed to combat global warming and which was ratified by over one hundred and thirty five countries?  Please don't blame it on the Republicans, Jan.  Something is seriously wrong, and its worse than the climate.