Back to School

Bethel Park students will get unique, immersive learning experience in new school year

BETHEL PARK, Pa. — Independence Middle School is trying a new “Pittsburgh” way to teach students in Bethel Park this year.

The library at the school is a space where kids can create and express themselves utilizing different themed rooms, each named in iconic Pittsburgh fashion. For example, the Steel City Collaboratory.

“It is not your grandmother's library,” said Principal David Muench. “It’s open-ended for kids for a lot of hands-on experiences.”

And those experiences are not limited to designing and building with 3D printers.

Getting into a Back To School Groove:

“Basically, if kids think it, they can build it,” he said.

Toyosi Egbebi knows all about the limitless possibilities.

“We took an old bike and we used the parts of the old bike to build a wind turbine,” he said.

Another space is the Communicultural District, which serves as a stage for performances, shows and poetry readings.

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“We wanted to invoke more of like a TED talk scenario for kids,” Muench said.

As the school year approaches, Muench says they’ll be ramping up and extending this sort of learning building-wide.

“This space will be a spring board for a lot of that planning,” he said.

While Toyosi moves on to the high school this year, she’s taking with her the exceptional experiences provided, in a not-so-average library.

“I’m gonna miss it, but I’m excited because I know the high school has a lot of opportunities for me,” she said.

Channel 11 News is your home for Back to School coverage.

We’ll have teams of reporters and photographers, as well as Chopper 11 and traffic reporter Trisha Pittman guiding you through the first days of the school year, every weekday on
Channel 11 News from 4:30 to 7 a.m. 

 

Cox Media Group

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