This year, a new class was added to the Upper St. Clair High School curriculum. This class was the Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics course. Students collaborated with fellow Western Pennsylvanian students from South Fayette to analyze unlikely topics.
Generally, the handles of pots and pans would not be an interesting project to work on, but these students made the work fun. They figured out a way to make refurbished pots more energy efficient during the production process using 3D fabrication software.
Alex Gialames, a student participating in the class at USCHS explains the experience with the South Fayette students: “Collaboration with other schools makes this project similar to real world circumstances in that you are going to have to work with clients and branches of a company in other parts of the world.”
Mr. Peskorski, the STEM teacher at USC is the head of this new operation. Joe Paul, a junior participant talks about the impact of the teacher on the class. “Mr. P is always really helpful to all the students in the lab; he knows the equipment really well and is always willing to make corrections and suggestions.”
Generally, this class would prepare students for jobs in the science world, as there is a laundry list of degrees associated with STEM.
Recently, art was added to the STEM acronym to make it become STEAM. The STEAM website gives the reason for this recent addition: “Art + Design are poised to transform our economy in the 21st century just as science and technology did in the last century.” They are based on the idea of, “where science ends, art begins.” Taking that into consideration, it is obvious to why they have added art and design to the curriculum.
The STEAM students seemed to be enjoying themselves at the most recent conference with presentations on their pot handles. Development of new skills, such as presentations, conferencing, and innovating will help them with aspects of their careers.