Andre Douglas

St. Thomas, VI | 7-12, Mathematics, 2023

What motivates you to contribute to excellence in STEM teaching?

Coming from a small island, it’s always rewarding to see my old students become doctors, chemists, doing work with statistics nationally. I think everyone that teaches has those moments when we’re not sure if what we’re doing resonates with students, but when they come back to let us know that it did, that gives me that little nudge to keep going.

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

I would have to say it’s been the PAEMST Award. I’ve never applied for anything like this before, I just…teach. I think I took/take for granted some of the curriculum discussions/decisions that I’m a part of, the STEM work that I do with students during the summer, and things of that nature as “part of the gig”. After winning the award, the amount of past students that echoed the sentiments of “well deserved” and “it’s about time” really showed me that I am appreciated for the work that I put it daily. I guess I’ve never looked at myself as impactful until I had this title attached to my name.

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

One of the things I love about teachers is we share so many triumphs and tragedies. What I’ve found as an awardee is a community of people that collaborate on making STEM accessible and engaging for all!! I would also hope that one day our nation’s leaders would consult with past, present and future awardees regarding what it would take to support communities in which STEM initiatives require innovation and/or support.

Biography

Andre Douglas has spent the last 14 of his 15 years teaching mathematics at the Ivanna Eudora Kean High School. He currently teaches Advanced Placement Calculus and Algebra II. For his first year of teaching, he was an adjunct professor at the University of the Virgin Islands, a position he currently maintains. As the Mathematics Department Chairperson at Kean High, Andre assists colleagues by guiding curriculum and pedagogical practices through professional development and ongoing mentorship. One of his most recent talks, entitled "Using Error Analysis to Foster Mathematical Discourse," allowed teachers to engage in and model best practices using data that students provide daily. Andre believes it is important for students to make sense of abstract ideas. He has used M&Ms and Blow Pops to simulate composite functions as well as the chain rule. He also regularly uses applications that allow students to explore functions graphically in different contexts in order to build conceptual understanding of challenging ideas. In an effort to spread the joy of mathematics across campus, Andre organized Kean's first schoolwide Pi Day celebration. The day consisted of pi recitals, math games, hula hoop and 3-point competitions, and of course pie! In the summers, he works with students to explore the Mathematics that drive the other sciences, while building foundational skills in functions, probability and modeling. Andre earned a B.A., summa cum laude, in mathematics and a master's degree in mathematics for secondary education from the University of the Virgin Islands.

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.