May 27, 2016 4 min read

To continue to get students more deeply involved into education, local school districts are turning to STEAM programs – an acronym for science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics – to “remake” learning for students of all ages.

Through the Allegheny Intermediate Unit’s Center for Creativity, the Grable Foundation, the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation and Chevron Corp., a total of $520,000 will be granted to 26 schools in Southwestern Pennsylvania, including Trinity, McGuffey, Fort Cherry and Burgettstown school districts.

The grant, which was evenly distributed for each district to receive $20,000, will fund newly created STEAM programs or an expansion of previous programs already instituted that serve to advance students in those particular fields of study.

Trinity, whose grant will strictly serve the middle school’s Full STEAM Ahead Program, will awake creativity and build problem-solving skills relating to real-world projects meaningful to each student.

“The job market is evolving with technology,” said Dr. Michael Lucas, Trinity superintendent. “If our kids aren’t equipped, then we aren’t sure how much they would be prepared. We are looking to make instruction more engaging and purposeful.”

The outlined goals Trinity Middle School has for the grant are to create a curriculum to assimilate art, computer-aided design and drafting and technology education programs, create a design prototype lab and train middle school teachers on how to integrate the new software and hardware into a regular school day.

Robotic kits, laser engravers and a Panasonic shoulder-mount camcorder were some items purchased with this latest grant, following the approximately $200,000 in other grants that this district has received this school year.

“Trinity is striving to be the leader in STEAM education,” said Lucas. “These funds will help us provide our students and teachers with the resources they need to design, create and innovate. Our goal is to help students problem solve and think like engineers. Next year, the students will be building and flying drones, constructing robots, developing video games and using laser cutters and 3-D printers to enhance our curriculum.”

For the third consecutive year, McGuffey received the grant, however, it will broaden its spectrum in a district-wide effort to spark the Echolocation Art: An Encore of International Study Program.

It will use the funds for elementary students to Skype with approximately students in 11 countries around the world to learn about different musical instruments. They will then begin to envision their own instruments and will work with high school technical education students to draw make a prototype of a “sound maker” of their own. Seventh-grade science students will then analyze the sound waves to create an interactive visual and auditory art installation throughout different parts of the community.

“In the real world we don’t separate by subject because learning and projects are embedded,” said McGuffey Assistant Superintendent Dr. Laura Jacob. “We wanted to highlight all the different components of our equipment, software and knowledge that our kids have at various levels. It also helps with communication skills as well.”

Money will be allocated at both the high school and elementary center at Fort Cherry for its Design2Display project. The purpose of the project is to enhance and expand connections between design, making and entrepreneurship for students and teachers. It will give students the opportunity to participate in the design process from inception. The district will also provide outreach to local school districts wanting to integrate the design process into their own schools.

“The school districts collaborate more in this region than other parts of the country,” said Rosanne Javorsky, assistant executive director for teaching and learning at AIU. “Success is built on success. There is a common vision within this area that is truly promoting a cross-disciplinary approach. It really shows how much they support each other.”

Burgettstown Area School District will use its $20,000 for the S.T.E.A.M. Team: Inspiring the next generation of dreamers in the high school. The project aims to stimulate Inventionland’s design development process in our STEAM elective course, while also infusing the approach into district curriculum development initiatives.

Since”mini” grants of up to $10,000 began to be distributed by AIU with the assistance of both the Grable and Benedum foundations seven years ago, the amount of the grants has grown with the help of Chevron to eclipse $3 million since 2009, according to a press release from AIU.

“When we started to disseminate grants in 2009, it was more about buying stuff like technology,” said Javorsky. “Districts aren’t just talking about buying things now. It’s now about doing things differently in the classroom. We really have a concentrated focus and are all moving in that same kind of direction.”