Fellows Aim to Increase Accessibility of Primary Sources for STEM Educators
The Library of Congress has announced it will host two Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellows for the 2021-2022 school year. Fellows will work closely with the Library’s Professional Learning and Outreach Initiatives Office to make primary sources from the Library’s collections more accessible and useful for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) educators throughout the United States.
Lesley Anderson, a high school science and mathematics teacher from San Diego joins the Library as an Einstein Fellow.
Peter DeCraene, a veteran math and computer science teacher from Evanston, Illinois, returns to the Library for a second consecutive year as an Einstein Fellow.
“We are delighted by the opportunity to work with Lesley and Peter this year,” said Lee Ann Potter, director of professional learning and outreach initiatives at the Library. “Primary sources are powerful teaching tools for teachers across the curriculum, and we know that these two outstanding educators will help us discover exciting new ways to help STEM teachers and their students connect with the Library.”
Lesley Anderson has taught chemistry, biology, environmental science and math to high school students in the San Diego area for several years and served as an instructional coach, supporting other educators. Outside the classroom, she has worked with NASA to analyze polar climates, studied sea turtles with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and journeyed to the South Pole as a PolarTREC teacher-researcher.
Peter DeCraene is a veteran math and computer science teacher with more than three decades of experience in middle school and high school classrooms. In 2011, he was awarded the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching, the highest honor bestowed by the United States government for K-12 STEM educators. During his 2020-2021 term at the Library as an Einstein Fellow, he developed new tools for teaching with historic charts and graphs and launched an ongoing series of posts for the Teaching with the Library of Congress Blog on teaching mathematics using primary sources.
For more information about the Albert Einstein Distinguished Fellowship, visit science.osti.gov/wdts/einstein.
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Press Contact: Leah Knobel, lknobel@loc.gov