Draw a Great Mathematician
Some helpful context: I teach at a school that serves predominantly low-income students of color. However, I believe this activity can be impactful with any student population.
Every year, I give my students a blank sheet of paper, colored pencils, and a sealed envelope. First, I tell them: "Please don't open the envelope." Then, I give them a simple instruction: "Draw a great mathematician. You have 3 minutes. Go!"
Quickly, they scribble their drawings. I'll count down the time at intervals, so that the class feels some urgency. At the end of the 3 minutes, they put their pencils down, and I say these instructions:
"If you drew someone who - in your mind - was male, hold up your drawing."
About half of my students are male. Yet, invariably, a large majority of kids hold up their drawing at this prompt.
"If you drew someone who - in your mind - was white, hold up your drawing."
My school doesn't have many white students. Yet, invariably, the majority of kids hold up their drawing at this prompt.
"If you drew yourself, hold up your drawing."
I've never had a student raise their drawing at this prompt.
After this last question, I instruct them to open the sealed envelopes that have been sitting on their desks. They discover that each envelope contains a small mirror (click the link for some relatively inexpensive ones on Amazon). I say, “Look in the mirror. That’s what a great mathematician looks like.”
Students keep the mirror all year, and it becomes a part of our class culture. They bring their mirrors to every unit test. In addition, for AP Stats, they bring the mirror to class the day before the AP Exam. On that day, we reflect on how far they've come in this class and far they're going to go in life, well beyond whatever score they get on this 3-hour test.
After several years, I found out that some students keep the mirror in their backpacks as they go from class-to-class in college. I like to think that some will take it to their first day of work as a data scientist at some big firm, or to their first day of school as a teacher, or to their first day in whatever path they pursue...