A $171,000.00 grant from the Benedum foundation will enable West Liberty State College SMART-Center and Intermediate Unit 1 to implement a state-of-the-art, sustainable robotics curriculum to include middle and high school children in southwestern Pennsylvania and northern West Virginia.  Projections indicate this program will impact several thousand students and 28 teachers by the third year. 
    West Virginia Handle on Science Project at West Liberty State College SMART (Science, Mathematics, and Research Technology)-Center and The Science Matters Program at Intermediate Unit 1 in Pennsylvania and have proven track records and working dissemination models that they use with schools in the targeted areas. Carnegie Mellon has developed an internationally recognized robotics outreach program. The three programs will team to bring the math and science lessons that drive robotics into classrooms across southwestern Pennsylvania and northern West Virginia.  

     Together, these partners will provide:

     Professional development for teachers centered around inquiry-based Robotics explorations developed at Carnegie Mellon using a guided constructivist approach to teaching and learning. This instruction is designed to improve mathematical competency and technological literacy.

     Teacher-tested instructional software designed to improve mathematics understanding for children.

    Access to Carnegie Mellon Robotics Academy staff and facilities.

     Sets of robots for classroom use (up to fifteen available per classroom).

     Curriculum alignment with state standards

This outreach will begin with a pilot program planned to include twenty teachers from Pennsylvania and eight from West Virginia. Resource teachers from IU1 and West Liberty State College SMART-Center will also attend training sessions to support each effort 
Participants from West Virginia in this first year pilot program include Rick Loser of St. Mary’s School in Clarksburg, Dallas Paugh of Wellsburg Middle School, and Andrea Anderson of Weir High School.  Mr. Loser, Mr. Paugh and Ms. Anderson will utilize robotics kits with their classes to teach the robotics curriculum developed at Carnegie Mellon University.  Support staff of the WLSC SMART-Center in Wheeling will be assisting the teachers in the curriculum implementation. 
    Dallas Paugh is implementing the curriculum with his eighth grade Technology Education Class at Wellsburg Middle School.  Mr. Paugh states that this type of technology is engaging for the students and he gives credit to his principal, Ms. Joyce Springborn, for assisting in the recent acquisition of computer technology that makes projects like the Carnegie Mellon Robotics possible. 
     Libby Strong, Project Director for the WV portion of the Benedum Robotics project, states that the WLSC SMART-Center has been extremely interested in robotics for quite some time and actually does robotics as one of the special topics at the hands-on science center in Wheeling, WV.  “Since the WLSC SMART-Center’s first on-site program in May of 1996, we have worked to provide quality hands-on science and mathematics opportunities for children throughout WV and the region”, Robert E. Strong, Director of the WLSC SMART-Center, states.  “Utilizing a combination of professional development for teachers and access to materials has been one of the areas we have emphasized over the past nine years as a science center.  Special programs do not necessarily raise test scores.  Teachers are the key.”