A roundup of camps, projects, and intensives that bring together science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics for a fun and engaging summer of learning.

Concentrated poverty is responsible for lagging STEM instruction, according to a new report.

It turns out teenagers are quite interested in the sciences. Science class, however, is another story, according to a new survey.

For those growing up in an age of melting ice caps and other climate concerns, science education can produce a sense of urgency and curiosity that leads young people to examine their surroundings through a critical lens.

Research shows that even the youngest brains are capable of beginning to understand STEM concepts, but only if they are given the opportunity to explore and discover.

A free tool developed by the Carnegie Science Center helps schools bolster STEM learning.

In 2015 we were, time and again, impressed by the ingenuity and creativity of young people. But why are these kids the exception?

A Pittsburgh Public School student and budding science researcher visited the White House for a summit on STEM learning. But most students in the US don't have the opportunities he's enjoyed.

Throughout 2014, Ebola ravaged West Africa, with many cases going undetected until it was too late. But in a lab a few thousand miles away, a teenager was working to change that.

In November, Pittsburgh will be one of 27 cities to convene at the president’s home to share STEM learning advice and accomplishments.

Unlike many educators whose careers were inspired by extraordinary teachers, Kinchington went into the field to give students something she never had herself.

As students head back to school, we are profiling educators at the forefront of learning innovation in the Pittsburgh region. This week: How science teacher Venneasha Davis listened to her students and designed an afterschool STEAM program for girls—with a waitlist.

Last week marked not only the start of a new school year for Shaun Tomaszewski, but the launch of three Pittsburgh Public Schools refashioned as STEAM academies—which he will oversee.

Does kindergarten math need to be harder? Or more relaxed, to allow more time for socioemotional development? Experts say neither. Like much in STEAM learning, engaging young children in math is not just about what teachers teach, but about how they teach it.

Engineer-like thinking is deeply beneficial when it comes to civic and community engagement—and, on the flip side, social consciousness can do a world of good for the engineering field.

Access to and use of technology and the opportunities that come with it, fall along race, class, and gender lines. It’s why when educators push for greater technology integration in education, equity has to be central to any effort in order for tech to propel, not hinder, a more equal shot at a STEAM career.

Welcome to our new STEAM series. For the next two weeks, we are deconstructing the acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math with posts that explore each subject in a new light. First up, the value of science literacy.

Our STEM workforce is no bastion of balance when it comes to race or gender. But the inequity doesn’t start with the hiring committee. Instead, as a new study reaffirms, workforce issues reflect childhood disparities.

Though the maker movement is often associated with things like 3D printers and circuits, it is really a fusion of newly accessible technology with old ideas about how we learn best. Maker projects, whether they're "egg cars" or homemade boats, stick in our memories not simply because they are fun. Getting lost in the challenge of making something work—something you care about—is a learning experience that sticks with kids and, it turns out, adults.

Fashion design is a natural companion to the maker and STEAM movements. It calls for risk, creativity, and technical precision, and there is plenty of the latter when it comes to e-fashion.

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.

Advancing technology, globalization, and a demand for higher-skilled jobs mean the modern workplace requires far more challenging skills than it did two decades ago. Responding to these heightened expectations, educators are increasingly finding ways to instill a set of abilities that will prepare kids for the world ahead, commonly referred to as “21st century skills.” Generally speaking, 21st century skills refers to the demands and expectations placed on students, teachers, employees, innovators, and others as they strive to succeed and prosper and in a competitive, multidisciplinary, and technology-driven world.

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.”

Even in educational utopia, leaders know the system needs to adapt to meet modern demands. Finland has announced that, beginning in August 2016, the country will abandon some of its subject-based schooling in favor of an interdisciplinary “phenomenon”-based approach.