Black Academia This Week Vol. 11

Once again thank you for stopping by my blog to read another issue of Black Academia This Week. As always this is where I share what is happening in the Black community in academic spaces. This blog post helps supplement the IGTV Series that can be found by following @blkgradstudent. You can find the episode 10 below if you have not had a chance to see it. Hopefully you enjoy this week’s Black Academia This Week.

Last Week’s Episode

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1: 2-year old accepted in to Mensa

Kashe Quest, a 2-year old, has been accepted into Mensa. What is Mensa you might ask? As per their website, “Mensa is a round-table society where ethnicity, color, creed, national origin, age, politics, educational and social background are all completely irrelevant. In fact, the only relevant qualification for membership is scoring within the upper 2% of the general population on an approved intelligence test.” What Kashe’s admittance means is that she will officially be the youngest member of American Mensa. Her IQ was found to be 146 and the average American IQ is 98. This is shown in her ability to count to 100, recognize all 50 states on a map, and knowing 50 signs in sign language. Overall the future is bright for this this toddler and I look forward to seeing her achieve greatness.

For more information, please see: ‘Remarkable’ 2-Year-Old with IQ of 146 Is the Youngest Member of American Mensa (msn.com)

2: Coding classes from Tennessee State will be offered in Africa

Tennessee State University (TSU) to offer coding classes in Africa with the goal of getting more African students interested in STEM. The program will involve 3 universities: African Methodist Episcopal University, Monrovia College, and Wilberforce Community College. The course will be offered online and will allow high school students to be able to get university and high school credit. TSU was able to bring this program to fruition by partnering with African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church. Bishop McCloud, who presides over the partner schools in Africa, believes this partnership will provide opportunity to Africans. Both TSU and the AME acknowledge that opportunity that this program will bring to students in Africa.

For more information, check out the following information from TCU’s website: TSU crossing international waters to bridge digital divide, offers STEM course to underserved high school students in Africa | Tennessee State University Newsroom (tnstatenewsroom.com)

3: Black and Latino science majors sent to elementary schools impact how students of color see scientist

A study was done through the Young Scientist Program (YSP) through the Joint Educational Project at the University of Southern California (USC) showing how students view scientist. They used the Draw-A-Scientist-Test created by educational researcher David Wade Chambers. The test ask students to draw a scientist and when the program first started 90% of the drawings looked like a white man in a lab coat. The remaining 10% was students who did not know what a scientist looked like. After the completing the program 37% of the drawings were a white woman, 10% drew scientist of color, and 9% drew themselves. What was the difference in their opinion? YSP, by sending students who were science majors themselves, students began to see themselves as scientist. While it might not seem like a dramatic change only being 9% drawing themselves, this helps motivate students to want to be scientist. I know this to be true because a 5 year old version of myself received an inventor book with a scientist and that’s when I decided to become an engineer. Programs like this help build the next generation of Black and Latino scientist.

If you are looking for more data about this study, you can find it here: Sending science majors into elementary schools helps Latino and Black students realize scientists can look like them (theconversation.com)