May 29, 2019 HundrED Announces Pittsburgh Spotlight Selections In March of 2019, HundrED released their full list of Pittsburgh Spotlight innovation submissions. Now, after two months of careful deliberation and assessment, HundrED has announced their 12 featured innovative solutions. About the Spotlight In partnership with the Grable Foundation and Remake Learning, HundrED’s Pittsburgh Spotlight shines a light on the educators and innovators doing extraordinary things to help students in southwestern Pennsylvania succeed. Receiving 82 individual submissions from southwestern Pennsylvania and northern West Virginia schools, museums, libraries, nonprofits, government agencies, and more, the Pittsburgh Spotlight is a great opportunity for changemakers to highlight, celebrate, and learn more about the work happening in local communities. While HundrED Spotlights are designed to identify 10 of the most inspiring innovations that focus on a location or theme, Lasse Leponiemi, Executive Director and Co-Founder of HundrED said, “Pittsburgh broke that mold. The response was so robust that we chose to expand our selection to 12 innovations.” Selected Innovations Simple Interactions: This research project of the Fred Rogers Center creates free tools and resources to give educators a language for noticing and affirming their interactions with young children. These simple interactions support relationships between children and adults. Fabricating Change in Mental Wellness: Students diagnosed with mental health conditions work side by side with social workers, therapists, and teachers in this digital Fab Lab at Intermediate Unit 1. The results: increased participation, improved engagement, and fewer disruptions. The Finch: Borne out of research about what engages and excites students in learning computer science, this robot developed by BirdBrain Technologies can be programmed to do physical actions in 9 different coding languages. A free loan program makes it widely available to schools. Global Minds Initiative: Founded, designed, and run by students, this after-school program combats intolerance by fostering intercultural friendships and global understanding. Immigrant and refugee students come together with their peers in safe, inclusive spaces. Hillman Academy: At this 8-week full-time summer program at UPMC Hillman Cancer Center, high school students perform cancer research under the mentorship of world-renowned scientists in a rigorous, supportive, real-world STEM environment. JAM: Two first-grade girls’ interest in making things to help their community has blossomed into an after-school maker learning program at Avonworth School District that is a catalyst for kindness in school and an engine for raising funds for community causes. MAKESHOP: The first museum makerspace, this permanent exhibit at the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh is a research-based learning environment where children and families make, play, and design using “real stuff.” And they offer professional development, maker learning resources, and more. Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild: This neighborhood-based community center is focused on educating and inspiring youth through the arts, with STEAM-based learning in four art-making studios. 98% of students who attend the program graduate high school on time. Summer Dreamers Academy: By combining the academic benefits of summer school with the fun of camp, this free summer program run by Pittsburgh Public Schools reduces summer learning loss while giving Pittsburgh students fun, enriching summer experiences. The Labs @ CLP Summer Skills Intensives: Part of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh‘s commitment to providing teen-driven programs and access to technology, these week-long summer programs offer teens a chance to explore topics like photojournalism, beat-making, filmmaking, and more. transformED: Allegheny Intermediate Unit is rethinking teacher professional development and support for school districts implementing innovative practices. At transformED, educators explore, discover, invent, and learn. Youth Express: Students use the tools of radio to create and distribute original programming through Saturday Light Brigade‘s 24/7 radio station. Programming is based on the idea that when youth realize that their voice matters, they realize that they matter. To learn more, visit the HundrED website. See HundrED’s official release. About HundrED HundrED is a not-for-profit organization that researches, highlights, and propels K-12 education innovations in an effort to improve education and inspire a grassroots movement by encouraging pedagogically sound, ambitious inventions to spread across the world. The Pittsburgh Spotlight is one of 6 individual spotlight categories, all centered around specific regions or topics. Through this spotlight, HundrED seeks to highlight educators and innovators in our area that are doing extraordinary things to help students. Interested in highlighting your innovative solution? Submit your innovation for HundrED’s 2020 Global Collection by June 30, 2019. *Information provided by HundrED
April 8, 2019 BreastFED: Breastfeeding Summit Join Healthy Start for BreastFED, Pennsylvania’s only regional breastfeeding summit. BreastFED is a two-day regional symposium aimed at providing information from professionals and community experts locally, regionally, and nationally on innovative approaches to address the needs of mothers and lactation practitioners in this region. Throughout the two days, participants will receive both clinical and community perspectives and will be able to share insights and experiences to move forward with best practices and groundbreaking methods to changing the culture of feeding our babies. See the full agenda. Continuing Education Units & Credits CEU’s are available for: Lactation Nursing Social Work Midwifery This summit is approved for a maximum of 10.75 continuing nursing education contact hours. The University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing is accredited as a provider of continuing nursing education by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation. Learn More To learn more about the summit and to register, visit the event website. For any questions, contact Healthy Start by phone at 412.247.4009 or email at email@hsipgh.org.
March 29, 2019 Pittsburgh Spotlight Receives 82 Innovation Submissions After receiving a total of 82 submissions from southwestern Pennsylvania and northern West Virginia schools, museums, libraries, nonprofits, government agencies, and more, HundrED released a full list of the innovative submissions they received. Submissions included: Innovative approaches from 27 schools and school districts in the Pittsburgh region 9 technology tools to facilitate learning developed by local companies and research projects 8 projects of local colleges and universities, including innovations from the University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon University, and Penn State University 31 programs and approaches from local museums, nonprofits, and community centers Our Highlight Listed as a submission, Message from Me (MfM) is an early childhood communications tool developed through the collaborative efforts of the Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) CREATE Lab and Trying Together. MfM was designed with the intention to involve families in the education experience and bridge the home-school connection while enhancing a child’s communication skills, independence, and opportunities for interaction. Using the MfM app, a child can record and share daily thoughts and experiences, impacting his or her feelings of individuality, self-confidence, and well-being. To learn more about MfM’s purpose, design, and impact, visit the HundrEd page. See the full list of submissions. What’s Next? HundrEd’s global research team will be running a rigorous review of all eligible applications, in addition to a review by a local committee consisting of educators, parents, students, researchers, and community stakeholders who will score each innovation to help decide which ones will be featured in the Spotlight collection. Following this review period, the 10 selected innovations will be announced in May as a part of Remake Learning Days, a regional celebration of the future of learning. About the Pittsburgh Spotlight HundrED is a not-for-profit organization that researches, highlights, and propels K-12 education innovations in an effort to improve education and inspire a grassroots movement by encouraging pedagogically sound, ambitious inventions to spread across the world. The Pittsburgh Spotlight is one of 6 individual spotlight categories, all centered around specific regions or topics. Through this spotlight, HundrED seeks to highlight educators and innovators in our area that are doing extraordinary things to help students. *Information provided by HundrED
March 18, 2019 Rube Goldberg: Painting on the Floor Embrace Rube Goldberg’s innovative and wacky ways of utilizing everyday objects to complete a task. Join the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh to create a collaborative work of art using unexpected objects and invent our own “Epic Way to Paint a Picture.” This program is inspired by the Rube Goldberg exhibit but will take place in the Nursery. This program is designed for our youngest learners (0-5) but is suitable for all ages. The event is drop-in, so guests may come and go as they please! For more information, visit the event page!
