When it comes to STEM, there are exciting things happening in our schools!
Lancaster County has sixteen school districts, hundreds of non-public schools, and the largest number of home-schooled children in Pennsylvania. In addition our county is home to many higher education institutions, adult education programs, and early learning centers.
STEM in our schools focuses on the learning that takes place in formal school settings. This includes preschools, K-12 schools, home schools, adult education programs and higher education classrooms. When it comes to STEM, we can all learn from each other.
Imagine Science
Lancaster County’s Imagine Science program is a fully locally-funded partnership between five different after-school youth programs providers aimed at sharing best practices, resources, curriculum, and more, to meet the growing need for quality STEM education.
The Imagine Science Lancaster County Partners:
Engineering by Design
Helping students understand the relevance of STEM learning is a challenge many teachers struggle with on a daily basis. Lancaster-Lebanon Intermediate Unit 13 (IU13) is working with the Lancaster County STEM Alliance, The Steinman Foundation, the International Technology and Engineering Educator’s Association (ITEEA) and Lancaster County school districts to introduce the Engineering by Design (EbD) curriculum to grades Kindergarten through 5 in public schools across the county.
This hands-on, STEM-rich curriculum is designed to provide all students with experiential learning opportunities tied to PA’s academic standards. IU13 will train elementary school teachers to deliver interactive STEM learning in an engaging and fun way. Students will have opportunities to work in teams to design and build creative solutions to specific STEM problems.
Pennsylvania is a member of the Engineering by Design (EbD) State Consortium through a partnership between IU13, TEEAP, and Millersville University. Through membership in the EbD State Consortium, eligible educators in Pennsylvania are provided with no cost online access to EbD K-12 STEM curricula. A statewide network aids in communication and includes regional centers for professional development.
Lancaster County is fortunate to have Lancaster-Lebanon IU13, the statewide lead for Engineering by Design, as an asset in our community. It is the hope of the Lancaster County STEM Alliance that this resource will help us to establish a baseline of STEM expertise for ALL KIDS in ALL ZIP CODES in the county. For more information about how you can contribute to this project, contact Curtis Funkhouser at IU13.
Engineering by Design is built upon the foundation of the Common Core State Standards, Next Generation Science Standards, Standards for Technological Literacy, Principles and Standards for School Mathematics, Benchmarks for Science Literacy and Project 2061
