Luke Wilcox

Kentwood, MI | 7-12, Mathematics, 2013

What motivates you to contribute to excellence in STEM teaching?

Teaching at East Kentwood High School, the most diverse public school in Michigan, has shown me the importance of high-quality STEM teachers in working to achieve more equity in education. Students from all different backgrounds deserve access to high quality instructional materials in STEM along with teachers that can best support their learning.

What has been the most transformative moment that affirmed your impact on STEM education?

My teacher colleague Lindsey Gallas and myself started a website in 2015 where we shared our lesson plans for free (now called Math Medic). Since then, over 100,000 teachers have downloaded our lessons and used them in lessons all over the world. It is incredible to think that the lesson plans we developed at East Kentwood High School in Michigan are now so widely used!

Using your platform as a Presidential Awardee, how do you hope to advance our nation in STEM?

Math and science have traditionally been taught as a series of facts and definitions to be memorized, or algorithms to be mimicked. We need to shift STEM education towards developing students thinking and reasoning skills. These are the skills that are ultimately going to help our nation stay ahead of the curve.

Biography

Luke has 23 years of classroom experience teaching mathematics at East Kentwood High School, the #1 most diverse public school in Michigan. His teaching has been recognized with the 2013 Presidential Award and 2018 Michigan Teacher of the Year Award, allowing him the incredible opportunity to meet two different Presidents at the White House. Luke believes that math education needs a revolution, from lecture-based boring to student-centered enthusiasm. Along with his colleague Lindsey Gallas, Luke created a website called Math Medic, which has over 600 free lesson plans for all of high school mathematics (Algebra to AP Calculus). These lessons have been downloaded and used by over 100,000 teachers worldwide. Luke has a B.A. in math education from the University of Michigan, where he graduated summa cum laude. Luke received a Master's degree in adult education with an emphasis in mathematics from Grand Valley State University. 

High-resolution version of the official portrait photograph
Awardee holding Presidential certificate between Megan Smith, U.S. Chief Technology Officer and Director of the National Science Foundation, Dr. France A. Còrdova.
High-resolution version of the teacher profile photograph

The views expressed in awardee profiles are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of NSF or the PAEMST program.