Black History Month Teaching Resources

Science NetLinks and AAAS have developed a number of resources that will help you honor the achievements and scientific work of African Americans. Consider using the following resources in your classroom.

 

 

Science NetLinks Resources

Lessons    Tools    Science Updates

Lessons

Images of Science

Grade Band: 3-5
Description: The lesson provides several activities that can be done in a series or individually to help students understand the diversity of science, both in terms of the work and the people engaged in the work. Teachers should emphasize the diversity to be found in the scientific community: different kinds of people (in terms of race, sex, age, nationality) pursuing different sciences and working in different places (from isolated field sites to labs to offices).

African Americans in Science

Grade Band: 6-8
Description: The images that many people have of science and how it works are often distorted. The myths and stereotypes that young people have about science and scientists are not dispelled when science teaching focuses narrowly on the laws, concepts, and theories of science. This lesson explores the careers of prominent African Americans in science, mathematics, and technology.

The Illusion of Race

Grade Band: 6-8
Description: This lesson helps students understand the ways that we have classified and defined groups, and to help students understand basic genetic traits that we have inherited from our common ancestors.

Variation in Human Skin Color

Grade Band: 9-12
Description: In this lesson, students will learn about the factors that determine skin color and how adaptation and natural selection contribute to its variation. They will come to understand that skin color is no longer considered a credible scientific standard by which to classify people into different races.

 

Tools

Martin Luther King Day Teaching Resources
Grade Band: K-12
Description: This resource from Science NetLinks offers educators classroom resources from the social and behavioral sciences that will help celebrate the work and legacy of Dr. King.

Delta SEE Radio

Grade Band: 6-12
Description: The Delta SEE Connection radio show was funded by the National Science Foundation and produced by Delta Sigma Theta in partnership with WOL Radio, Delta Research and Educational Foundation, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. The series features African-Americans in science, engineering, and mathematics and highlights scientific research that is being conducted at private institutions and college campuses, particularly Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU), nationwide.

 

Science Updates

Science Update: Spotlight on African American Scientists

Grade Band: 6-12
Description: In this Spotlight Web page, Science Update has compiled interviews from its extensive archive that feature a select group of black scientists who are living and working in North America today—and helping to pave the way for those who will follow. The page includes links to audio interviews as well as to transcripts of the interviews.

Photo Credits: Mae Jamison, Shirley Jackson, Percy Julian, Ron McNair, Ernest Everett Just, George Washington Carver, Benjamin Banneker, and Warren Washington