25 schools get STEAM spaces thanks to AIU, Grable, Benedum

Since 2009, Allegheny Intermediate Unit’s (AIU) Center for Creativity has been making grants to fund education focused on STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics). “It’s the concept of thinking in a more integrative way” about these educational subjects, says Rosanne Javorsky, the AIU’s director of teaching and learning. “Science class doesn’t end after a 42-minute period.”

Since last year’s experiment of giving larger grants was so successful, she says, this year the AIU has once again teamed with the Grable and Benedum foundations to make more and larger grants among a wider range of schools. On June 3, they announced $500,000 in funding to re-design or create spaces in 25 schools to involve students in STEAM subjects and projects. They awarded $20,000 each to 25 school districts in Allegheny, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Greene, Lawrence, Mercer, Washington and Westmoreland counties.

Javorsky says they received more than 80 applications. “I could have awarded another 25, because they were just that good,” she says. “People really had a vision for what STEAM education could look like in their schools, to engage kids in learning across different content areas.”

Allegheny Valley Junior-Senior High School, for instance, received a grant to form Rachel’s Neighborhood Garden as an outdoor classroom next to the Rachel Carson Homestead. East Allegheny students will spend a year designing a city with a local engineering company, while the Elizabeth Forward Middle School will create The DREAM Factory for kids to become makers. In that same spirit, Fox Chapel’s Kerr Elementary will form the Creative Learning Maker Studio to use digital media in literacy education, and Keystone Oaks Middle and High School’s Digital Playground project will teach computational skills through computer programming and gaming. North Hills will turn its Junior and Senior High libraries into research centers and media labs, while South Park Elementary Center will get a new “SPEC-TECH-ular Studio” where, they say, students will “explore STEAM through five pods including an art and music Creation Station, green screen, editing, robotics and discovery spaces.

“Our focus has always been on engaging students in meaningful learning,” Javorsky says, leading to “kids who have not been very excited about school who are suddenly wanting to stay after school.

“On the national level there’s a lot of talk about STEAM,” she adds, “but we’ve been doing it here for five years, so I feel like we’re ahead of the game.”

Writer: Marty Levine

Source: Rosanne Javorsky, AIU 3