Dan May: “Bridging the Gap: Diversity in the STEM Pipeline”
On the National Assessment of Educational Progress, only 3% of low-income eighth graders score at the Advanced level in mathematics, while 14% of 8th graders overall score at this level. By 12th grade, the percentage of low-income students scoring at the Advanced level is not even given—it “rounds to zero”. The Bridge to Enter Advanced Mathematics (BEAM) program aims to address these issues by offering advanced enrichment learning in mathematics to middle school students from low-income neighborhoods across New York City and Los Angeles. The program offers summer day-camp mathematics enrichment activities to rising 7th graders, a summer residential math camp to rising 8th graders, and assists these students throughout their high school years and with their application to college and other issues related to the transition to higher education. The ultimate goal of BEAM is to increase the number of students from under served communities who are prepared to earn STEM degrees and succeed in STEM careers. In this talk, we will discuss the work of BEAM and frame the need for such a program. We’ll also have some fun – come ready to be challenged by playing with some of the mathematics activities the summer camp 8th graders work on!
Unless noted, all lectures are held in Jonas 110 at 4:00 p.m. on Thursdays and are free and open to the public.
