Carnegie Science Center to Launch Teaching Excellence Academy

Workshops focus on best practices in STEM education

PITTSBURGH, Aug. 29, 2016 — Carnegie Science Center will launch its inaugural Teaching Excellence Academy in the fall of 2016. The Teaching Excellence Academy is open to any teachers in the region with an interest in strengthening their STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) pedagogy skills. Several workshops are available for parents as well.

The Academy’s Fall 2016 Semester offers opportunities for educators in all grade levels, with specific workshops in STEM, early learner education, and the engineering design process.

Professional development workshop topics range from teaching content through games to employing subtle shifts in the classroom to get students devising questions and generating conclusions. There are workshops designed for every stage of learning—beginning with early learners and going up through high school.

There are also multiple interactive workshops based in Fab Lab Carnegie Science Center with a focus on the engineering design process and creating a makerspace in the classroom. These programs feature hands-on activities designed to explore the options Fab Lab has to offer.

“We heard feedback from teachers expressing an interest in learning more about STEM education methods and how they could integrate those ideas into their classroom in meaningful ways,” said Jason Brown, Carnegie Science Center’s Director of Science and Education. “The Teaching Excellence Academy will strengthen teachers’ knowledge in these crucial STEM fields, helping them to build important 21st century skills into their lesson plans.”

In addition to teacher workshops, there will also be programs open to parents about how to build respectful, responsible kids and positive child-adult relationships.

Teachers will receive Act 48 credit and a certificate of participation upon successful completion of each workshop.

Registration for the Fall 2016 Teaching Excellence Academy is available at www.CarnegieScienceCenter.org/Educators.

About Carnegie Science Center
Carnegie Science Center is dedicated to inspiring learning and curiosity by connecting science and technology with everyday life. By making science both relevant and fun, the Science Center’s goal is to increase science literacy in the region and motivate young people to seek careers in science and technology. One of the four Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, the Science Center is Pittsburgh’s premier science exploration destination, reaching more than 700,000 people annually through its hands-on exhibits, camps, classes, and off-site education programs.

About Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh
Established in 1895 by Andrew Carnegie, Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh is a collection of four distinctive museums: Carnegie Museum of Art, Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Carnegie Science Center, and The Andy Warhol Museum. In 2015, the museums reached more than 1.4 million people through exhibitions, educational programs, outreach activities, and special events.

###