Dreamweaver Marketing News, Emmy Award-winning iQ: smartparent Presents “The Maker Movement in Schools”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:                                          CONTACT:      George Hazimanolis
November 16, 2015                                                                                         412-622-1366
                                                                                                                                 ghazimanolis@wqed.org

Emmy Award-winning iQ: smartparent Presents

“The Maker Movement in Schools” November 19 at 8p.m. on WQED-TV

New episode followed by rebroadcast of “A Nation of Makers”

PITTSBURGH— Just as the Maker Movement is transforming our culture, it’s having a major impact in our schools.   This new episode of WQED’s Emmy Award-winning iQ: smartparent  “The Maker Movement in Schools” premieres Thursday, November 19 at 8pm on WQED, followed by a rebroadcast of iQ: smartparent  “A Nation of Makers” at 8:30pm.

Hosted by Darieth Chisolm, “The Make Movement in Schools” examines the movement’s impact in the classroom. This episode features three innovative faculty members from Winchester Thurston School in Pittsburgh who do innovative work with their PreK-12 students that combines a rigorous college preparatory curriculum with collaborative, creative practices of the Maker Movement.

In-studio guests for iQ: smartparent “The Maker Movement in Schools” includes:

Adam Nye.  As the Director of City as our Campus, Adam Nye helps to integrate community resources into the learning experiences of students at Winchester Thurston School. He assists teachers in partnering and collaborating with various community resources throughout Pittsburgh, including museums, artists, and maker spaces.

Adam's work has focused on embedding informal learning experiences in formal schooling. As the Associate Director of Education at the Thinkery (Austin Children’s Museum), he created a new educator empowerment program that equipped educators with skills to incorporate modern technology into their daily practice. Adam also served as the MAKESHOP Manager at Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh. In this role, he helped to implement the MAKESHOP program and supported the growth of an initiative to prepare educators with maker skills.

Graig Marx is a science teacher at Winchester Thurston School and is the chair of the Science Department. He also serves as STEM Coordinator. In his six years at the school, he has worked to increase the use of project-based learning and engineering projects. The Maker Movement has influenced his teaching of a high-level, product-based, engineering course and the creation of Maker spaces throughout the campus. Graig specializes in the use of 3D printers to create unique, original, student-designed work. These progressive changes recently were validated when Graig was announced as the recipient of the 2015 Carnegie Science Award in the High School Educator category. 

David Nassar is a mathematics and computer science teacher at Winchester Thurston School and is the chair of the Computer Science Department.  In his seven years at the school, he has developed the computer science curriculum to include integrated computer science in Lower School, required computer science courses and electives in the Middle School and nine separate Computer Science courses in the Upper School.  In all of the courses he teaches at Winchester Thurston, he strives to get students to understand how computer science can help them solve problems through application of knowledge in a wide array of other disciplines.  Upper School level one courses of Computer Science for Math and Science, Computer Science for Art and Music, and Computer Science for the Humanities highlight Nassar's integrated approach to computer science education.

Lisa Regalla: As Deputy Director, Lisa Regalla directs Maker Ed’s mission to scale and disseminate making as a change-agent for learning. By developing partnerships with educators, organizations, researchers and the broader community, Lisa helps build and support a growing network committed to broadening participation in making. Prior to Maker Ed, Lisa worked at Twin Cities Public Television developing educational content that was presented on television, in person, in print, and on the web as part of the Emmy-Award winning series, SciGirls and DragonflyTV: Nano. Lisa also spent several years working at the Museum of Science, Boston and the Da Vinci Science Center in PA. As the manager of several national outreach programs throughout her career, she has conducted extensive professional development workshops in gender equity and inquiry-based approaches to STEM.

Following this new episode, WQED will re-broadcast iQ: smartparent “A Nation of Makers” at 8:30pm.  A companion episode about the maker culture across the country, it features Jane Werner of the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh, Mark Hatch of TechShop, and Tara Tiger Brown of LA Makerspace,

WQED launched iQ: smartparent in response to a research study of regional parents (conducted by WQED in spring 2012) who expressed their desire to build their confidence with educational, 21^st century media and expand their capacity for co-learning with their digitally savvy children. Through a series of television broadcasts and a robust online community, iQ: smartparent equips parents and caregivers with tools and resources to aid their understanding and use of digital media and technologies for learning. To sign up for more information go to iqsmartparent.org. 

About Host Darieth Chisolm

Chisolm has worked in the television industry for over 20 years, as news anchor for WPXI-TV Pittsburgh, an NBC-affiliate station, and Channel 11 News on Fox 53. She also owns her own fitness studio, Fullbody Fitness Club, and is passionate about personal health and wellness. She is a seasoned speaker and leader in the Pittsburgh community providing individuals and organizations with strategies

and solutions to bring out their best performance and affect positive change. She sits on the board of several community and charitable organizations and has received numerous awards for her news coverage, community service, and professional affiliations. She is also the proud mother of a college freshman.

WQED changes lives by creating and sharing outstanding public media that educates, entertains, and inspires. It is the parent company of WQED-TV (PBS); WQED Create; WQED WORLD; WQED Showcase; Classical WQED-FM 89.3/Pittsburgh; Classical WQEJ-FM 89.7/Johnstown; the Pittsburgh Concert Channel at WQED-HD2 (89.3-2FM) and online at www.wqedfm.org; local and national television and radio productions; WQED Interactive (www.wqed.org) and iQ: smartmedia, WQED’s Educational initiative (www.wqed.org/edu).

iQ: smartparent benefits from the expertise of Common Sense Media, the leading non-profit organization dedicated to helping parents find age-appropriate, quality media. Parents can join the conversation online with WQED EDU and #iqsmartparent on Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter. iQ: smartparent is brought to you by WQED Multimedia with generous support from an anonymous donor and The Grable Foundation.