May 30, 2018 2 min read

McDONALD – Michael Maga, a sophomore at Fort Cherry High School, is a fan of both Monopoly and Britain’s Premier League soccer.

The two interests would seem to exist in different realms, but Maga brought them together through a board game he devised about Premier League soccer that is based on Monopoly. Complete with cards and player pieces, it was displayed in Fort Cherry High School last week as part of Remake Learning Days, a regional initiative that seeks to celebrate and spur student creativity in science, technology, the arts and other areas.

Fort Cherry’s STEAM Showcase – the “STEAM” standing for the educational approach that seeks to combine science, technology, engineering, the arts and math – was one of a handful of events taking place at schools in Washington and Greene counties that marked Remake Learning Days, which started May 17 and wrapped up May 25. The showcase highlighted items made by students who used laser engravers, 3D printers, vinyl cutters and other tools that were most definitely not part of your granddad’s industrial arts class.

At Canonsburg’s South Central Elementary School last Friday, students showed off their “Code to the Future” project, which incorporated the popular game Minecraft. At the Intermediate Unit 1 Educational Campus in Waynesburg Friday, participants were involved in hands-on projects involving a vinyl printer and maker bot.

These three events were among 270 events that were part of Remake Learning Days in the Pittsburgh region and West Virginia. Launched in 2016, it recognized the gulf between how students learn today and how their parents or grandparents were taught. Along with schools, such institutions as libraries, museums and recreation centers were also involved.

In 2019, plans are afoot to expand Remake Learning Day to other regions, according to Dorie Taylor, the event’s producer.

“People have been coming to the table, wondering how we can infuse STEAM (into the curriculum), and elevate teaching and learning,” Taylor explained. “That’s happening in this region.”

Moreover, events like Remake Learning Days demonstrate how many subjects that are taught in schools converge, Taylor added.

“You’re bridging all the subjects in learning,” she said. “Maybe we won’t have separate science or social studies courses. Maybe the future is mashing all that together.”