STEM

Carnegie Mellon-Led Project Promotes Data and Technology Fluency

CMU researchers are working with local teachers to implement a pilot program that encourages students to use data, multimedia and technology to express ideas.

• By Sri Ravipati
• 08/19/16

Researchers from Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) held summer workshops for Pittsburgh-area teachers to learn how to apply the concepts of data and technology fluency in schools.

CMU researchers Jessica Pachuta, Jessica Kaminsky and Beatrice Dias led the workshop for 12 teachers from eight schools. With a 14-month, $593,000 planning grant from The Heinz Endowments, a Pittsburgh-based philanthropic organization, the researchers will create a pilot program for the teachers to implement at their schools. The grant will be used to develop “tools and methods that enable students to use data and technology for asking questions and exploring their environment, for telling cohesive stories, and for articulating opinions and arguments,” according to a CMU news release.

The CREATE (Community Robotics, Education and Technology Empowerment) Lab, part of CMU’s Robotics Institute, will offer access to visualization software, virtual reality tools and other technology for the pilot program, which will be implemented during the 2017-2018 school year.

“Our vision is that students will be using technology, multimedia and data as raw materials for supporting their decisions or expressing their creativity,” said Jessica Pachuta, a project manager for CMU’s CREATE Lab. “While schools have concentrated on technical and data literacy, we want students to achieve fluency.”

Further information about the program is available on the CMU News site.