Students today are hungry for a challenging learning environment that not only engages them, but also prepares them for the 21st
century workplace. So what does this look like?
Two high schools in the Pittsburgh region are embracing innovative educational models that teach STEAM skills in creative ways. One is a classroom that looks more like a place you might find at Epcot in Disney World; the other is an academy for future video game designers.
At Shaler High School, students are stepping into an immersive, virtual world called Dream Flight Adventures
where they embark on their own missions that take them into the scientific realms of outer space, human body or deep sea.
Before the day of the mission, teachers prep the students. When the day arrives, the excited class takes its spot in a room that is designed as a command center, and moderated by an administrator who serves as flight director. The students manipulate the mission on iPads and follow the journey on a wide screen at the front of the room.
“When kids walk in, many think it will be like a video game, with scripted outcomes, says Gary Gardiner, CEO and creator. “They quickly realize this is more of a real life experience. There is a lot of screaming and yelling.”
“Once the kids come in here, they are no longer are fifth graders, they are engineers, and hackers and physicists,” adds Michael Penn, GATE teacher and flight director. “They own these jobs. Time stops for them; they are so reluctant to leave.”
Dream Flight Adventure hopes to expand to other area school districts, says Gardiner, who is also manager of education and entertainment initiatives at Idea Foundry.
At Elizabeth Forward High School, Zulama
’s Gaming Academy offers students a high school level curriculum based on course work offered at CMU’s Entertainment Technology Center (ETC). The academy teaches STEAM skills through classes on game design, 3D modeling and modern storytelling.
In its second year, the program has grown from 30 to 190 students.
“It’s changing the way teachers are teaching,” says Nikki Navta, founder and CEO. “It gives students practice for jobs that exist in the real world.”
Zulama addresses soft learning skills including working in teams, learning to communicating and collaborating effectively. It’s not about just math, science, art and history, says Navta. It gives students a tangible portfolio of work.
“The collaboration and the creation that students get to do is far more intrinsically motivating than any other course that I’ve seen offered in my mere 10 years of education,” says Heather Hibner, a teacher at Elizabeth Forward.
Writer: Deb Smit
Source: Zulama and Dream Flight Adventures