Hidden Figures Revealed: Educational Resources
As part of the project's goal of increasing awareness of Black math history in Central Ohio, we have developed a series of lesson plans, which are available for free. These lesson plans connect math with local history through the lives of Black PhD math alumni from Ohio State.
Our lesson plans vary in grade level and length. They have two main parts: first we focus on the story of the person, encouraging students to reflect upon their circumstances. Then, there's a hands-on math activity based on the work of the alumni. If you are a math teacher and have a social sciences colleague (or vice-versa), this format lends itself very well to work on the lesson plan together, with the social sciences educator implementing the first part and the math educator handling the second part. However, it is also possible for the lesson plan to be completely within the math class.
Additionally, we offer shorter versions of the lesson plans in the form of ready-to-print worksheets, accompanied with solutions for the educator. These are ideal if you are looking for a quick activity or if you are a social sciences educator and don't want to invest so much time talking about math.
Access the Catalog of Educational Resources below. You can search by grade, keywords, and length. Use "lesson" to find full lesson plans and "worksheet" for the quick ready-to-print activities.
If you use our lesson plans and have any feedback or ideas to improve them, please let us know at blackmathstory@osu.edu