Careers
Ever look through a physics or math textbook and wonder where all the people are? Sure, there's Archimedes and Newton and maybe even a present-day scientist in a big lab. But where are the real people?
There is a significant amount of research that shows that students rarely have realistic ideas of what scientists, engineers and mathematicians actually do. Most people expect scientists to spend their lives in a laboratory, wearing a white lab coat and looking at beakers, and let's not even get into the perception that scientists, engineers and mathematicians couldn't possibly be cool.
What could be more cool than using your brain to win races? Or to protect drivers by creating safer cars and tracks? Although race car drivers get all the press, there are literally hundreds of people behind the scenes (in the garage at the track, back in the shop, working in industry, or researching at a university) whose knowledge of math, engineering and science got them into much more exciting jobs than looking at beakers.
On the serious side, there is also a lot of research that tells us that student stereotypes of scientists, engineers and mathematicians affect their interest and performance in these classes.
Building SPEED's solution is providing teachers with 'hero cards', just like the big-name drivers. These cards give students mini-biographies of people who use math and science in motorsports and the automotive industry in general.