The South Fayette School District is proud of its “STEAM Story.” In a district video, educators gently guide first graders using magnetic circuitry kits, fourth graders working with LEGO robots and seventh graders creating their own Smartphone apps.
The video shows a student making musical notes by tapping a piece of cardboard connected to a computer, a group creating safety updates to a walker for the elderly and another student building a basketball trivia app. One young student featured in the video says, “I really like this technology because you get to make stuff out of it and it comes out really cool at the end.”
Similarly, the Fox Chapel Area School District shares a video that features its mobile fabrication lab and stories about students using 3D printers, vinyl cutters and computerized milling CNC machines.
And, in the Upper St Clair School District, the website announces that a group of middle and elementary school students are winners of a multimedia excellence award at the September World Artificial Intelligence Competition at Carnegie Mellon University.
Educators throughout the region will tell you that access to Science, Technology, Engineering Art and Math [STEAM] curriculum and activities are an essential part of today’s education. They teach students how to think critically, take risks, bounce back from failure and strategize as a member of a working group — all skills necessary in the 21st century workplace.
But providing those experiences often requires the purchase of expensive equipment and cutting-edge technology and the funds to provide professional development to teachers.
Well-resourced districts are forging ahead — creating makerspaces and purchasing or building fabrication labs equipped with STEAM tools, virtual reality spaces and even an artificial intelligence lab like the one opening at David E. Williams Middle School in the Montour School District this fall.
In the world of STEAM, it’s easy to get left behind if your school district struggles financially.
READ MORE AT:
https://schoolfundingpa.publicsource.org/stories/in-resource-poor-districts-vital-steam-resources-are-hard-to-come-by/
The video shows a student making musical notes by tapping a piece of cardboard connected to a computer, a group creating safety updates to a walker for the elderly and another student building a basketball trivia app. One young student featured in the video says, “I really like this technology because you get to make stuff out of it and it comes out really cool at the end.”
Similarly, the Fox Chapel Area School District shares a video that features its mobile fabrication lab and stories about students using 3D printers, vinyl cutters and computerized milling CNC machines.
And, in the Upper St Clair School District, the website announces that a group of middle and elementary school students are winners of a multimedia excellence award at the September World Artificial Intelligence Competition at Carnegie Mellon University.
Educators throughout the region will tell you that access to Science, Technology, Engineering Art and Math [STEAM] curriculum and activities are an essential part of today’s education. They teach students how to think critically, take risks, bounce back from failure and strategize as a member of a working group — all skills necessary in the 21st century workplace.
But providing those experiences often requires the purchase of expensive equipment and cutting-edge technology and the funds to provide professional development to teachers.
Well-resourced districts are forging ahead — creating makerspaces and purchasing or building fabrication labs equipped with STEAM tools, virtual reality spaces and even an artificial intelligence lab like the one opening at David E. Williams Middle School in the Montour School District this fall.
In the world of STEAM, it’s easy to get left behind if your school district struggles financially.
READ MORE AT:
https://schoolfundingpa.publicsource.org/stories/in-resource-poor-districts-vital-steam-resources-are-hard-to-come-by/
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