White House awards Pittsburgh’s maker movement, Google pledges $1 million
Pittsburgh’s maker movement is gaining momentum, earning accolades from the White House while helping to lead a nationwide network of tinkerers, inventors and entrepreneurs.
President Obama’s Nation of Makers Initiative recognized several Pittsburgh leaders in hands-on maker learning last week, as the White House kicked off its National Week of Making from June 17th to June 23rd. Over the last few years, access to maker spaces has encouraged local students and educators to learn by exploring and experimenting with technology from 3-D printers to design computers.
The City of Pittsburgh, several members of the local Remake Learning Network, five Pittsburgh-area school districts, and local nonprofits and philanthropists shared their plans as part of the Nation of Makers:
Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh: Google pledged $1 million to develop a national strategy to support the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh and California-based nonprofit Maker Ed to build more than 100 new maker spaces as part of a new Making Spaces program. The partnership will bring making into schools, libraries, nonprofits and recreation and community centers for long-lasting results, according to a press release. After running a pilot of the program from 2015-16 with 10 schools in southwestern Pennsylvania, the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh will serve as the primary hub for educational institutions in the eastern half of the country for the 2016-17 school year.
“Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh and Maker Ed are proud to be counted as leaders in the Nation of Makers,” says Bill Schlageter, the museum’s marketing director. “The Children’s Museum has been at the forefront of the maker movement in museums since 2011, working to share and understand the impact of making and learning with children and families.”
City of Pittsburgh: Five recreation centers in Pittsburgh will undergo a “rec-to-tech” makeover, thanks to the efforts of the City of Pittsburgh, the Sprout Fund and organizations from the Remake Learning Network. These tech-enhanced rec centers will fill a void in neighborhoods with limited access to the internet and technology education and will serve as an example for other cities interested in rec-to-tech, says Ani Martinez of the Sprout Fund.
“Sprout will help to convene major players in out-of-school time programs to transform these rec centers, but also to keep our ears and our practice open to working with other cities that have expressed interest in a rec-to-tech project,” Martinez says.
Grable Foundation: The White House honored Grable Foundation Executive Director Gregg Behr last week as a Champion of Change for his role in building the Remake Learning Network and for his efforts in organizing the Remake Learning Days. The Remake Learning Network is a professional coalition of educators and innovators representing more than 250 organizations; Remake Learning Days is a regional campaign that secured commitments from more than 150 organizations totaling more than $25 million pledged to new education opportunities in southwestern Pennsylvania and West Virginia.
“Pittsburgh was celebrated at numerous times by White House officials,” Behr says. “The creative and caring efforts by thousands of educators, makers and technologists over the past decade to remake learning across the Pittsburgh region has been noticed by the highest of offices.”
The local school districts recognized for providing cutting-edge maker learning opportunities to students are Avonworth School District, Elizabeth Forward High School, Fox Chapel Area School District, South Fayette High School and Fort Cherry School District.
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