Preparing Aspiring Educators for Modern K-12 STEM Classrooms
Immerse yourself in modern teaching methods related to K-12 STEM and maker education in Point Park University's Matt's Maker Space Lab and Matt's Maker Space Too.
Located in Academic Hall 716 and 718, Point Park's maker space classrooms are vibrant workshops designed to facilitate hands-on, collaborative learning experiences, featuring a variety of high-tech and low-tech tools. Modeled after real-world maker spaces popping up at educational institutions around the world, these classrooms are an engaging tool used to best prepare our pre-service teachers to enter the classroom as certified teachers.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, STEM professions are expected to grow 8.8% in the next 10 years. Pittsburgh is emerging as a national leader in STEM-centered maker space education. At Point Park, students have the opportunity to build their STEM teaching skills by using maker space education to integrate STEM concepts throughout interdisciplinary curriculum.
Point Park's maker space classrooms feature:
- 3D printers
- Virtual reality goggles
- Green screen production kit
- K'NEX
- littleBits kits
- MaKey MaKey kits
- Modular Robotics Cubelets
- Sphero robots
- GoldieBlox project kits
- KEVA Planks
- Wonder Workshop Cue Robot
- Strawbees School Kit
Our Community Partners
Point Park's Matt's Maker Space Lab is part of the regional Making It Happen in Makerspaces program, which includes several Pittsburgh partners:
- MakerEd Making Spaces: Expanding Maker Education Across the Nation
- The Education Partnership
- West Middlesex School District
- Sister Thea Bowman Academy
- UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh
Additionally, Point Park received a $281,830 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to support the School of Education's “Transforming Integrative Makerspace Education for STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) Pre-Service Teachers” program. Our community partners on the grant include:
For more information, contact:
Virginia Chambers, Ed.D., dean
Phone: 412-392-6189
Fax: 412-392-3927
Email: vchambers@pointpark.edu
Kamryn York, Ed.D., chair
Phone: 412-392-3487
Fax: 412-392-3927
Email: kyork@pointpark.edu
Mark Marnich, Ed.D., professor of mathematics
Phone: 412-392-3869
Fax: 412-392-6180
Email: mmarnich@pointpark.edu