Around 450 educators gathered at Upper Merion Area High School for the 2024 STEELS Expo, a hands-on learning event organized by Montgomery County Intermediate Unit, reports Kim Hudson for CBS News Philadelphia.
STEELS is short for Science, Technology, Engineering, Environmental Literacy, and Sustainability.
These new standards can better prepare students for the continuously changing career landscape, said Upper Merion science teacher Pete Vreeland.
“The future is unknown,” he said. “We don’t know what challenges they’re facing, but we want them to leave us with the skills and the talents to know what to do when they don’t know what to do.”
The new standards were adopted by Pennsylvania Department of Education in 2022. The new lessons have already been implemented by three of the 22 Montgomery County school districts.
Since the deadline for the new standards adoption is 2025, expo organizer Patrice Semicek said educators were excited to have the hands-on opportunity to expand their skills.
“So, we didn’t learn this way as students,” said Semicek. “Giving opportunities for teachers to experience it gives them the background knowledge to be able to practice that in classrooms.”
Watch the entire segment about the 2024 STEELS Expo at CBS News Philadelphia.
