Science History Institute Hosts 2024 Gordon Cain Conference

The 2024 Gordon Cain Conference hosted at the Science History Institute July 15–16 brought together more than 30 scholars from around the country representing K-12, architecture, biology, chemistry, English, material science, psychology, history, history of science, and science education disciplines.

The theme of this year’s conference, “Storytelling as Pedagogy: Historical Biographies in STEM and Social Studies,” focused primarily on using scientific biographies in the classroom with K-12, college-level students, and broader public audiences. The 2024 conference was organized by Sibrina Collins, who served as the 2024 Cain Conference Fellow; Charlotte Abney Salomon, director of the Institute’s Beckman Center for the History of Chemistry; and Judith Kaplan, Cain Curatorial Fellow.

The conference featured six different sessions examining many sub-themes, including “storytelling how-tos,” “biographies celebrating women in science,” and “storytelling media.” Each session included an engaging panel discussion with the audience and presenters.

Institute staff members Shuko Tamao, Cain Curatorial Fellow; Matthew Lorenz, digital content producer; Elisabeth Berry Drago, director of museum education; and Alexis Pedrick, director of digital engagement delivered informative presentations about free educational resources like the Institute’s Voices of Science oral history project that are available to the public.

“It has been an honor to serve as the 2024 Cain Conference Fellow,” said Collins. “When you publish a call for papers for an interdisciplinary conference like this, you don’t know who will respond. This was an amazing experience. I am thankful to the entire Science History Institute team, specifically Charlotte and Judy, as well as Michelle DiMeo, vice president of collections and programs, and David Cole, president and CEO.

“A key goal is to continue the ‘storytelling work’ beyond the Cain Conference through collaborations with conference presenters and Institute staff to impact the curriculum in science and the humanities fields,” she concluded.