Five Questions with Michael Lowry, a 2025-2026 Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellow at the Library of Congress

This post is by Michael Lowry, a 2025-2026 Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellow at the Library of Congress.

Tell us a bit about yourself.
I have been a high school Physics, Chemistry, and Biology teacher for more than 30 years, holding leadership roles ranging from department chair to High School Division Director for the National Science Teaching Association (NSTA). My classroom has always been a noisy place, filled with the sounds of catapults firing and lively mock trials about car crashes. While I love the “how” of science, the inquiry and exploration, I am deeply fascinated by the “who” and the “why.” I define myself not just as a teacher of facts, but as a storyteller of scientific discovery. Beyond the classroom, I enjoy taking students into the wild places of our planet. Presently, I am training to hike the John Muir Trail, a 220-mile trek in the Sierra Nevada mountains.

How has using primary sources changed your teaching?
Using primary sources allows me to capture the human aspect of the scientific process. Too often, students believe scientists glean discoveries from thin air in a moment of pure inspiration. The reality is that science is often a tedious struggle. For example, showing the Wright brothers’ actual notebooks changes the conversation. Students stop seeing “geniuses who got it right” immediately and start seeing engineers who failed, tweaked, and tried again. It builds resilience; they realize struggling with a lab report isn’t failure, it is the work.

What prompted you to apply to be an Einstein Fellow?
I have known about the Einstein Fellowship since its inception and have always been impressed by the high praise past participants have given the program. After years in the classroom, I wanted the challenge of getting out of my comfort zone. I saw this as the perfect opportunity to stretch my professional muscles and apply my teaching experience on a national level.

What are your goals for your year as an Einstein Fellow?
My goal is to uncover “hidden histories” in the archives to create ready-to-use resources. Specifically, I plan to:

• Highlight under-represented voices: Find artifacts from scientists and engineers often overlooked in textbooks.
• Create “History of Science” labs: Develop lesson plans where students analyze raw historical data alongside modern experiments.
• Bridge the gap: Host workshops that bring history and science teachers together to co-plan cross-curricular units.

What advice would you give to teachers who want to use primary sources in classroom activities given the push to meet standards and ensure success on standardized tests?
My advice is simple: Primary sources are not an add-on; they are an accelerator. Analyzing a primary source—like a diagram drawn by Alexander Graham Bell—hits multiple standards simultaneously: practicing data analysis (science), evaluating validity (critical thinking), and decoding complex text (literacy). Instead of a fun distraction, use primary sources as a hook to introduce hard concepts. When students connect emotionally with the story of the science, they retain the facts much better for any assessment we may use.

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