Teaching History in a STEM-Focused World – Innovation Charter High School

Innovation History Department Chairperson Billy Matthews, and 10th Grade Dean and History Teacher Sarah Sullivan, attended the 2015 Annual Conference of the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) in New Orleans.

Billy Matthews and Sarah Sullivan delivering STEM-enhanced Social Studies curriculum at Innovation — Billy Matthews and Sarah Sullivan delivering a STEM-enhanced Social Studies curriculum at Innovation

Billy and Sarah at the NCSS Annual Conference in New Orleans

At the conference, Billy and Sarah were interviewed by a publication called Ed Circuit on the topic of teaching history in a STEM-focused world. Billy made the case for the inextricable links between history and STEM. “It’s harmful to steer our nation’s students away from the Social Sciences because they allegedly do not contain math, reading or scientific analysis,” he says. “History can work beautifully when correctly aligned with these other programs because a clear historical narrative can only be constructed through the use of STEM skills.”
Link to Article

Billy and Sarah also described Innovation’s practical approach to teaching history, one that is hands on and engages students in project-based learning, which requires the students to demonstrate skills in reading, writing, mapping, graphing and statistics.

Thanks to our staff for ably representing Innovation at conferences and setting forth the Innovation approach to teaching history!