HundrED Spotlight on Pittsburgh

For more than a decade, educators in the Pittsburgh region have been taking risks, reaching higher, and pushing the limits of learning. In partnership with the Grable Foundation and Remake Learning, the HundrED Spotlight on Pittsburgh shines a light on the educators and innovators doing extraordinary things to help students in southwestern Pennsylvania flourish. On this page, you can explore all 82 innovations submitted to the Spotlight.

Achievement Consultation – Ruth’s Way offers alternatives to facility placement, suspension, and expulsion for teen girls by addressing negative behaviors and equipping girls with the tools to address their own barriers to success.
Alliance for Refugee Youth Support and Education – Many newly-arrived young immigrants and refugees need extra support in order to flourish in their new surroundings. The Alliance for Refugee Youth Support and Education partners closely with schools and immigrant-led community organizations to provide out-of-school academic, emotional, and social support.
Aquaponics System – Inspired by an exploration of solutions to global food insecurity, students and teachers at West Greene School District established a solar-powered aquaponics ecosystem.
ArtEd21 – ArtEd21 is reestablishing the art classroom as the creative epicenter of the educational experience, shifting art education curriculum into a schoolwide, interdisciplinary structure.
Auberle’s 412 Youth Zone – Auberle’s 412 Youth Zone provides a healing environment for youth transitioning out of foster care or experiencing homelessness, offering learning and creativity supports on their journey to adulthood.
Avella Aquaponics: From Fish to Food – The aquaponics program at Avella Area School District is a project-based learning environment that incorporates agriculture, fish culture, and nutrient cycling.
Be the Change: Empathy and Mindset for Civics Learning – The Heinz History Center’s Be the Change program helps students connect historical events to their own experiences by engaging them in the personal narratives of changemakers from the past.
Brick Makerspace powered by LEGO® Education solutions – Montour Elementary School built the Brick Makerspace, a makerspace dedicated to learning with LEGOs.
Bridging the Gap – Through data-driven interventions, the Penn State Talent Search Program helps thousands of students from high-need districts enroll in post-secondary education.
Bring Your Kids Home – Sometimes transformative change begins by updating what already exists. Duquesne Elementary School transformed its existing building to meet the needs of its students in grades PreK-6, even turning a storage room into a maker space.
Brokered Learning Pathways: Young Naturalists – The Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy helps young people find and follow their passions by building learning pathways made up of supportive adults, relevant programs, local organizations, and hands-on learning opportunities.
Carnegie STEM Excellence Pathway – To help as many school districts as possible adopt best practices in STEM education, the Carnegie Science Center established this free, comprehensive, online strategic planning tool designed specifically for schools and districts.
City as Our Campus – For students at Winchester Thurston School, the entire city is part of the campus—students work alongside community members to address pressing issues through real-world experiences.
CMU CS Academy – The K-8 space is filled with engaging yet simple CS learning tools, but the next time many students see CS is in an AP computer science class. Carnegie Mellon University’s CS Academy bridges the gap between drag-and-drop beginner coding programs and advanced CS curriculum.
Collaboration Nation, Inc. – Collaboration Nation is a research project that seeks to change education by bridging silos through collective, coordinated studies.
College in High School for all – Students at Northgate High School can earn college credit for all of their core academic courses and many electives. Some students can even earn a full associate degree just by taking classes at their high school.
Combining Agriculture, Technology, Careers, and Community Service – Trinity High School students are growing food in a hydroponic facility that combines curricular concepts with community service—using agriculture, chemistry, and biotechnology, students grow vegetables and herbs that they donate to a local food bank.
Community Partnerships Support Next Generation Success – Through a partnership with a local manufacturing firm, students at Butler Area School District are learning 21st-century skills in a real-world career setting.
Computer Science Immersion – Through a co-teaching model at Canon-McMillan School District, teachers and students in grades K to 4 use coding as a learning tool to explore and master content in core academic subjects, creating an immersive coding program integrated directly into everyday classroom activities.
Creating a Culture of Possibility – School leaders at Wheeling County Day School developed a culture of possibility in innovation that has empowered educators and students to reimagine what’s possible together and unlock the potential of their teaching and learning.
e-Missions: Live Learning, WorldWide – The Challenger Learning Center of Wheeling has been using technology for 20 years to deliver live video-conference simulations of space and medical adventures to classrooms all over the world. e-Missions immerse students as scientists, astronauts, and doctors working to save lives.
Elizabeth Forward High School FABLab – Elizabeth Forward’s FABLab includes an all-girls maker class, a student-run business, and a summer professional development program for teachers attended by educators from across the country.
Emerging Leaders Program (ELP) – The Emerging Leaders Program works directly in schools with high school seniors to help them prepare for college and career through one-on-one meetings, mock interviews, job shadows, college application help, and more.
Energy Innovation Center Design Challenges – When you give young people a real-world challenge, they rise to meet the opportunity. This partnership between high school students and local businesses tasks students with solving real design challenges with the advice and guidance of local experts.
Equitable Student Broadcasting – Students at Cornell High School are responsible for live streaming their morning announcements, rotating roles and responsibilities.
Expii Inc. – Expii is an online learning platform that lets students choose how they learn math and science by tailoring lessons and practice problems to their personal preferences and styles, providing the right challenges at the right time as students learn and advance.
Fabricating Change in Mental Wellness – Can making help students with mental health diagnoses learn? At Intermediate Unit 1’s Fab Lab, students diagnosed with mental health conditions are designing, prototyping, building, and learning.

Formative Years of Digital Literacy Integration – Young people may be able skilled users of technology, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they understand how it works, or how they can manipulate it themselves. Propel Schools’ digital literacy framework helps students K to 4 understand the technology around them and use it in life and learning.
Girls of Steel Robotics – Girls of Steel is an all-girls competitive robotics team that exemplifies female success in robotics in order to inspire participants in the pursuit of STEM.
Global Challenges – At Hampton Middle School, students are developing a global perspective by using the UN Sustainable Development Goals to design their own solutions to real-world problems.
Global Minds Initiative – Young people in Pittsburgh imagined and designed the Global Minds Initiative, an after-school program where participants create inclusive spaces to combat intolerance and foster incultural friendships and understanding.
Hillman Academy – Can high school students perform cancer research? Each summer, 65 students spend 8 weeks at the Hillman Cancer Center, working alongside world-renowned scientists in real, hands-on lab settings.
HoloLAB Champions – Schell Games is exploring how to use virtual reality (VR) to help students practice real chemistry lab skills. HoloLAB Champions is a chemistry game show where students use VR equipment to conduct experiments in a virtual lab.
Inventionland Institute Curriculum – Inventionland Institute is a STEAM-based curriculum designed to encourage students to create real-world solutions to everyday problems.
JAM – When two first-grade girls expressed a desire to use their creative skills to raise money for local non-profits, JAM was born. This after-school making program has raised thousands of dollars for local charities by making and selling crafts and gifts right in their school’s makerspace.
Justice Scholars – Justice Scholars supports the educational potential of students at one of Pittsburgh’s lowest-performing high schools by connecting them to the largest local University through a lens of social justice.
K-12 Computational Thinking Pathway – Computational thinking is embedded into every grade level at South Fayette School District, from kindergarten through graduation. Through a series of interrelated projects that scaffold from school year to school year, every student in the district learns computational thinking, engineering, and human-centered design.
Leadership Studies Class/Curriculum – Students at South Fayette High School can take two semesters of leadership courses and earn college credits through a partnership with the University of Pittsburgh.
MAKESHOP – The MAKESHOP is a research-based learning environment for maker learning permanently embedded in the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh that provides materials and support for anyone ready to start their own makerspace.
Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild – Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild started as a ceramics program in 1968 and has grown into a comprehensive after-school arts program with an impressive track record for helping students graduate.
Mend the Gap, Powered by Kimche – How can existing school data be used to improve outcomes? Mend the Gap uses automated data processing to create data visualizations that help schools work to close the achievement gap.
Mentors in the Making – At the Carnegie Science Center Fab Lab, mentorship is integral to making—Mentors in the Making pairs low-income high school students with STEM professionals to prototype a capstone project that solves a challenge in the community.
Message from Me – While children are developing crucial life skills at child care or in the classroom, they can struggle to communicate what they did “at school” to the adults in their lives. Message from Me is a free app that helps facilitate conversations between young learners and their caring adults at home.
Mindfulness in the Classroom – Teachers and staff at North Allegheny School District are creating calm, managing stress, and promoting teachable moments through their mindfulness in the classroom initiative.
Mpower Studio – Pittsburgh Obama Academy Makerspace – The Mpower Studio at Pittsburgh Obama Academy is a makerspace that gives students tools to express themselves, be themselves, and make their ideas come to life.
NoRILLA (Novel Research-based Intelligent Lifelong Learning Apparatus) – Can bridging the physical and digital worlds help engage learners in STEM concepts? NoRILLA is a research-based mixed-reality platform that helps students build and test block structures and receive personalized, interactive feedback in the process.
OPDC Future Makers – Can maker learning put students on the path to a bright future? This program connects youth to industry professionals while equipping them with lessons in public speaking, resume writing, and planning for the future.
OPDC School 2 Career – This program provides academic support and career exploration opportunities to at-risk youth.
Opera TOTS! – Opera TOTS! helps pre-K to 1st-grade students learn vocabulary, melodies, rhythms, and story elements through the practice and performance of child-appropriate versions of real operas.
P2W – Portal 2 the World is a platform that enables educators and learners virtually travel around the world to learn a new language using games and virtual reality.
PEERbot Play Learning: Social/Emotional Learning with Robots – When it’s hard for young learners to connect with their peers, it can be easier to talk to a robot about it. the PEERbot helps children ages 2-7 communicate, socialize, develop, and grow.
PGH in 360: Youth Perspectives – PGH in 360 partners with community organizations to teach young people to create 360-degree videos about issues that matter to them.
PHASE 4 Learning Center, Inc. – PHASE 4 Learning Center offers an alternative way to graduate high school for at-risk or disadvantaged students, setting them on a new path for personal and career growth.
Project Prism – A team of graduate students at Carnegie Mellon University’s Entertainment Technology Center created Project Prism, a game that helps neurotypical learners empathize with those on the autism spectrum by playing through an allegorical story.
ProjectArt – Through a partnership with the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, ProjectArt brings local artists to public libraries, using visual art classes to facilitate young people’s self-esteem, critical thinking skills, and community connections.

Puzzlets – Puzzlets engages early learners in STEM topics using tactical learning that connects real and virtual worlds, allowing for tablet-based or screen-free play.
School of the Future – Nazareth Prep – Every student at Nazareth Prep participates in a real-world, paid internship as part of their regular coursework. Students spend one day per week from September to May at local employers completing tasks and projects typical of entry-level employees.
Simcoach Skill Arcade – Can playing video games help students explore their career choices? The Simcoach Skill Arcade is a collection of free games that engage youth about the interests, aptitudes, and careers available to them.
Simple Interactions – How do we encourage, enrich, and empower human relationships around children? Simple Interactions is a practice-based, strengths-focused, and community-driven approach to support helpers who serve children and youth.
SOY (Supporting Our Youth) Pittsburgh – Latino Community Center – As Pittsburgh’s population becomes more diverse, it becomes increasingly important to help children celebrate their cultural heritage while seeing themselves as the future of the city. This out-of-school time program helps bi-lingual preK-5th graders develop pride in their identity as Latinos and cement their confidence as the future of Pittsburgh.
Startable Pittsburgh – Students work in teams to design, prototype, build, brand, and market products of their own creation through Startable Pittsburgh, a teen-focused program of a local startup accelerator.
STEAM Education for At-Risk Residential Youth – Auberle is cultivating a love of learning with at-risk residential and homeless youth with STEAM and Maker activities, and a mobile component to the program helps make this learning happen anywhere.
Stories Alive! – What began as a reading program has blossomed into an interactive, mentor-based program that brings reading to life through art-making and performance at the Deborah D. Booker Community Center.
Student Powered Solutions (SPS) – Student Powered Solutions connects students to local businesses and helps them use project-based learning and human-centered design principles to develop innovative solutions to the real-world problems faced by the businesses.
Summer Dreamers Academy – Pittsburgh Public Schools is fighting summer learning loss through the Summer Dreamers Academy, a no-cost premiere summer program that provides the academic benefits of summer camp alongside the fun of summer camp.
T. E. A. M. S. Model – The Mon Valley School has designed a model to inspire special educators to rethink, redesign, and re-envision what special education is in order to realize every student’s potential.
Teaching Core Academic Concepts Through Theater and Dance – How often does a teacher tell their students to get out of their seats and dance around the classroom? That’s what happens at Turner Intermediate School in Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania, where students are exploring topics from poetry to fractions through theater and dance.
Technology and Data Fluency Project – How can technology and data serve as tools to enhance the voices of teachers and students? The Technology and Data Fluency Project equips teachers with tools and skills to decode and shape our current context, so that they can empower students to do the same.
The Cognitive Tutor for Analysis in Genetics – The Cognitive Tutor for Analysis in Genetics is a project of Carnegie Mellon University that helps students learn to think like a biologist using an idea called “pathway algebra.”
The CS-STEM Network – The CS-STEM Network provides curriculum and progress tracking tools for teachers offering popular robotics programs, all on a free platform where students can log their work and participate in competitions.
The Finch Robot – The Finch was designed to make CS and engineering more engaging by giving students a real robot that can be manipulated using a variety of coding languages. Their loan program makes the Finch available to classrooms for free.
The Future of Fashion – In Pittsburgh’s Homewood neighborhood, The Future of Fashion is helping girls ages 8-16 rethink beauty, health, hair, and fashion by combining maker activities like sewing with panel discussions featuring local female African-American entrepreneurs.
The Labs @ CLP Summer Skills Intensives – Making music at the library? Teens at the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh collaborate with local artists and librarians to explore photojournalism, filmmaking, beat making, personal branding, street art, and more as they follow pathways to their passions.
The Little District That Could…And Did – At Quaker Valley School District, academic specialists use a model of individualized learning in grades K to 12 to give each and every student access to rigorous, challenging, and rewarding learning experiences.
The Pittsburgh Project – The Pittsburgh Project is an integrated out-of-school program that empowers children to be change makers through hands-on, interdisciplinary maker education.
The Queen’s Gambit Chess Institute – The Queen’s Gambit Chess Institute helps young people tackle real-world issues through the lens of chess strategy.
transformED – Professional development is often lauded as a key part of helping teachers grow their practice, but often high-quality workshops are hard to come by. transformED is a community of educators taking risks and growing their practices together in a safe space that is filled with technology tools and other supports.
Trust in Noticing – This approach for teaching and learning focuses on noticing as the core of learning by supporting children’s practice with open-ended noticing and growth of intrinsic motivation for learning.
Underwater Rovers – At Trinity Area School District, students build and race underwater rovers to explore marine architecture and ocean engineering principles.
Veterans Website – Born as a cross-curricular project between English and Social Studies in 2016, this student-built and -maintained a website from Kiski Area High School tells the real stories of veterans from the community.
Vlog University – Vlog University empowers youth from under-resourced communities to understand recent shifts in modern media to build their own online movements.
Youth Express – Through Youth Express students are using the tools of radio to create and distribute commentaries, discussions, documentaries, and other youth-generated content through a 24/7 radio station.