State grants to aid 3 districts’ STEM schooling

Youngstown, Liberty and Girard schools will benefit from the program.

STAFF REPORT

YOUNGSTOWN — Three local school districts will get a total of more than $300,000 in state funding for elementary school science technology, engineering and math programs.

The grants for K-8 STEM Programs of Excellence come from the STEM Subcommittee of the Partnership for Continued Learning, chaired by Eric D. Fingerhut, Ohio’s chancellor of higher education, and are part of a total of $5.9 million awarded to STEM programs across the state.

The local recipients are:

UYoungstown City School District: $125,170 to provide more than 500 fourth-graders with a Mahoning River Education Project/Getting to Know My Community program. The district will also be able to expand its partnership with Youngstown State University’s Center for Urban and Regional Studies and enter into a new partnership with the Children’s Museum of the Valley.

ULiberty School District: $119,785 for an engineering, education environment program for all pupils at W.S. Guy Middle School. The program will focus on environmental technology and include programs such as the Gateway to Technology and Engineering is Elementary developed by the Museum of Science in Boston.

UGirard City School District: $68,690 to serve all pupils in grades six through eight. Sixth-graders will participate in the Lego’s RoboChallenge and Mindstorms curriculum. Seventh- and eighth-graders will take part in the Gateway to Technology program.

The state funding is designed to significantly strengthen Ohio’s competitiveness in science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine (STEM) and STEM education.

The K-8 STEM Programs of Excellence establishes programs in kindergarten through eighth grade, offering a rigorous and diverse curriculum based on scientific inquiry and technological design and emphasizing personalized learning and teamwork skills while exposing students to advanced mathematical and technical scientific concepts within and outside of the classroom.

“Equipping Ohio’s youth with the science, technology, engineering and math skills needed to be successful in the 21st-century knowledge economy is important to each student’s — and the state of Ohio’s — future,” Fingerhut said.