Solomon Schechter School to Establish $1 Million K-8 STEAM Center
The Solomon Schechter School of Manhattan is establishing a new STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and math) center for its K-8 students using a $1 million gift from from Eileen and Jerry Lieberman.
In making the gift, Jerry Lieberman cited STEAM education as the driver "for prosperity for the next generation."
"STEAM is an approach to thinking and learning for the 21st century, and we are thrilled that the Lieberman Family STEAM Center will afford Schechter Manhattan students learning opportunities that will prepare them for academic and professional success," said Benjamin Mann, Schechter Manhattan's head of school, in a prepared statement. "The STEAM Center demonstrates our fundamental commitment to educating students to identify and solve problems in innovative, collaborative, and multi-disciplinary ways."
The center will provide curriculum that will be "integrated into the coursework for every grade," according to information provided by the school. "For example, first grade students will build their own playground using the concepts of force and motion, while seventh graders will combine their physics and art studies to create complicated inventions to solve simple problems, a.k.a. Rube Goldberg machines."
Schechter Manhattan, now in its 20th year, is a Jewish day school serving students in kindergarten through grade 8.