Place: 4274 Chamberlin (Refreshments will be served)
Speaker: John Gustafson, Independent Scholar formerly of Fond du Lac Tribal & Community College, Cloquet, MN
Abstract: A survey of Native Americans' accomplishments in what we call the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) reveals an impressive list, a list of accomplishments that can serve as a new and attractive perspective to teach STEM to STEM-phobic students. In addition, the perspective provides new insights into other problems. For example,Europeans arriving in 1492 were small in number, yet they soon dominated the Americas. Jared Diamond hypothesized that European technology had something to do with it. By looking at the pre-1492 Native American STEM-like accomplishments, we may be able to deduce more of why Europeans "went chaotic."