Kids’ imaginations make them natural inventors. Students at Avonworth Middle School will be tapping into that innate inclination through a new partnership with engineers and product developers from Inventionland, an idea incubator in Pittsburgh. With help from these mentors students will hone in on a problem, design an idea to solve it, prototype a solution, and “pitch” the idea to Inventionland executives. The project is made possible by a STEAM grant from the Benedum Foundation, the Grable Foundation, and the Chevron Corporation. Avonworth’s project is one of 28 grants to southwestern Pennsylvania school districts totaling $530,000. Since 2009, more than $2.3 million in STEAM grants have been awarded to schools, all distributed through the Allegheny Intermediate Unit’s Center for Creativity.

Once at risk of closing, Pittsburgh Woolslair PreK-5 will become a partial STEAM magnet school next year with the aid of nearly $900,000 in foundation grants to support STEAM learning at several schools in the district. The new STEAM programs are part of an ongoing movement in the region’s schools and informal learning spaces to improve access to STEM learning as well as to integrate the A in “art.”

In Pittsburgh, a building boom of new 21st century digital learning spaces for students of all ages.

In a challenge to use robotics to create a healthier, safer, and cleaner world, student engineers designed robots that can collect your trash and rehabilitate endangered animals. What’s next?