Spotlight 2019

Pittsburgh, USA

Educators in the Pittsburgh region are taking risks, reaching higher, and pushing the limits of learning. Find out what we learned from taking a closer look at the education innovations flourishing in the "steel city" in 2019. This Spotlight broke the mold—we couldn't settle on just 10 innovations to highlight, so here you'll find 12 innovations that are impactful in their local context and scalable for education contexts around the world.
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Together with The Grable Foundation & Remake Learning

Education Innovation Forged in the Steel City

In 2019, HundrED partnered with the Grable Foundation and Remake Learning to produce the HundrED Spotlight on Pittsburgh, our first Spotlight in North America, to shine a light on the educators and innovators doing extraordinary things to help students in southwestern Pennsylvania flourish.

More than 80 schools, museums, libraries, and community centers in Pittsburgh shared their innovation with HundrED to show how they’re harnessing the power of creativity, ingenuity, and innovation to help children thrive. Together with our partners in Pittsburgh, HundrED identified 12 of the most inspiring innovations in the Pittsburgh region to share with the world. 

The story of each of these innovations is captured in this collection of short video documentaries and in the innovation profiles below, where you'll learn more about their origin and impact, see step-by-step guidance for recreating their approach, and find contact info to get in touch with the innovators.

The HundrED Spotlight on Pittsburgh research report collects these innovations together with a detailed overview of the education ecosystem in Pittsburgh, the areas of strength that make innovation possible there, and the opportunities for change that drive the region’s commitment to helping each and every child can reach their full potential.

Cover photo by Ben Filio for Remake Learning.

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Innovations

Explore education innovations recognized by HundrED as well as innovations from shared by the education community across the world.
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Manchester Craftsmen's Guild
Founded in 1968 on the belief that environment shapes behavior, Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild (MCG) has grown from a community-based ceramics program into a cornerstone of Manchester Bidwell Corporatio
Arts
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Simple Interactions
A practice-based, strengths-focused, and community-driven approach to support educators by affirming the importance of positive, responsive, and supportive human interactions in learning and developme
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Global Minds Initiative
In schools across the United States and Canada, students from over 50 countries meet after school to combat intolerance and foster intercultural friendships. Designed, led, and run entirely by youth,
Collaborative Learning
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Fabricating Change in Mental Wellness
Students diagnosed with mental health conditions design, build, prototype, and learn at Intermediate Unit 1 Educational Campus at Colonial, an alternative education school. The collaborative environme
Mental Health Project Based Learning
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The Labs @ CLP Summer Skills Intensives
Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh’s 18 locations have dedicated space where teens can hang out, mess around, and geek out. Each summer, Intensives offer teens a chance to spend five days exploring a crea
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The Finch Robot
This educational technology tool can be programmed in five different coding languages, from Scratch to Java, making it immediately accessible to learners of any age and ability. A free loan program an
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JAM
When two first-grade girls came to their teacher with the idea to start a business that donates profits to charity, a maker-learning program became an incubator for young entrepreneurs. When the girls
Empathy
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Hillman Academy
Each summer, high school students perform authentic research alongside world-renowned scientists at the Hillman Cancer Center and throughout the University of Pittsburgh. By engaging students in a rig
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transformED
transformED offers radically relevant professional learning experiences that emphasize hands-on practice with new ideas, skills, and tools, together with a technology lending library, grant funding, a
Professional Development
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Summer Dreamers Academy
A no-cost, premier summer learning experience providing the academic benefit of summer school along with the fun of summer camp. Through a mix of high-quality, engaging instruction by certified teache
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MAKESHOP
This research-based learning space is a permanent exhibit inside the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh. MAKESHOP is a drop-in environment where children and families make, play, and design using “real s
Personalized Learning
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Youth Express
When youth realize that their voice matters, they realize that they matter. Since 2013, Youth Express has used tools of radio to create and distribute commentaries, discussions, documentaries, and oth
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