PITTSBURGH, January 29, 2019 – ASSET STEM Education (ASSET), a national education improvement nonprofit, announced it will kick off a three-year program designed to improve the quality and availability of STEM programming on the Northside. The program, STEM from Square One will be offered at no cost to educators teaching Pre-K through grade 5 on the Northside, thanks to a generous grant from the Frick Fund of the Buhl Foundation.
“Exploring STEM at an early age is critical for students to prepare for future education within these subjects and ultimately careers in the growing field,” said Cynthia Pulkowski, Executive Director at ASSET. “We are excited to partner with One Northside and the Buhl Foundation to offer positive STEM experiences for teachers and students on the Northside.”
During the STEM from Square One program, ASSET will partner with teachers and administrators across a range of educational settings and grade levels, including Pre-K, elementary and out-of-school time. The program will take place over three years, working with K-5 educators during the first year, out-of-school educators during the second year, and Pre-K educators during the final year.
ASSET will collaborate with more than 35 K-5 Northside educators this year to explore valuable skills and resources to empower their students to think like environmental engineers. Participants will receive one day of professional development and the engineering module “Water Water Everywhere: Designing Water Filters,” designed by the Boston Museum of Science’s Engineering is Elementary program. The kit, which they will be able to keep for future classroom use, introduces the real-world issue of water pollution and guides students to plan, construct, test and improve their own water filters.
Each year, participating educators will receive STEM modules to enable children’s hands-on exploration of the content; one to two days of professional development with ASSET’s PD specialists to explore the module’s STEM content, effective teaching strategies, and age-appropriate learning assessment tools; and teacher guides including instructional resources related to each unit.
STEM from Square One will kick off with two sessions for K-5 teachers on Thursday, February 7 and Tuesday, February 12. Visit https://assetinc.org/programs-courses/grant-funded-programs/ to learn more and sign up.
This program is designed to support two of the One Northside Consensus Plan’s 3-5 year education goals: 1) to ensure high quality Pre-K for all children aged 3-5 years, and 2) to ensure every school can support students in becoming Promise ready.
About ASSET STEM Education
Founded in 1994 by the Bayer Corporation and a coalition of community partners, ASSET STEM Education has grown from a local education improvement nonprofit to a national leader in science, technology, engineering and math education. The organization provides more than 100 different professional development courses to more than 2,600 educators annually. ASSET also assists classrooms and educational programs in determining what hands-on, minds-on STEM materials will work within their initiatives and/or programs. Each year, these activities improved quality of STEM education for more than 69,000 learners. ASSET’s holistic approach to STEM education fosters youth interest, engagement and achievement in other subjects as well, including reading. For more information, visit www.assetinc.org.
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