Edward Kang
Dr. Edward Kang co-founded The Laboratory Collective with the mission of disrupting traditional STEM education. The Laboratory Collective makes science and math engaging to all learners through seamlessly connecting literature, history, art and design, writing, role-play, and popular culture with STEAM.
Prior to co-founding The Laboratory Collective, Ed received his doctorate in Molecular Neuroscience from Northwestern University. After a couple months into his post-doctoral fellowship, Ed recognized a lack of diversity in the sciences and he left the university to have a greater impact on his community and teach high school science at a low-performing/high-poverty urban high school in Chicago Public Schools. Ed quickly realized that his credentials, and using traditional hands-on experiments, were not enough to get all students engaged in a subject rooted in testing and rote memorization.
Ed met co-founder Amy Schwartzbach, a Reading Teacher, when they were teaching at the same public high school. Together, they created a series of projects—pulling engaging science lessons from classic literature—to let students experience the creativity and wonderment that inherently exists in math and science.
While continuing to teach, Ed and Amy founded The Laboratory Collective as an incubator to reinvent how students learn STEM. Programs at The Laboratory Collective draw in students who don’t see themselves as scientists—they quickly learn that creativity can often be the most important part of scientific exploration. The lessons at The Laboratory Collective challenge science-minded students to expand and think more creatively, drawing many students toward independent reading and inquiry.
Additionally, Ed has been a presenter and keynote speaker at educational conferences, and he works with teachers, schools, and school districts to reinvent traditional STEM education to prepare the next generation of students to use math and science as tools of creativity.
Social:
Article: