Curriculum

NY District Invests in Woz U STEAM Lessons

• By Dian Schaffhauser
• 04/15/19

A New York school district is investing $70,000 into STEAM curriculum developed by Woz U, a for-profit company that focuses on delivering career education. The board of education for Salamanca City Central School District near Buffalo recently approved the purchase of the resources for grades K-10, for use over the next two school years.

Content covers coding, engineering design, drones, cybersecurity and mobile app development. In the future, according to the company, curriculum will also cover animation, data analysis and artificial intelligence. The company said the lessons adhere to Next Generation Science Standards.

The kits include all of the specialized materials needed, aside from computing tablets or Chromebooks. Each of three or four grade levels have their own learning outcomes, goals and projects.

"For the past several years, our teachers have been incorporating STEAM-based learning across the K-12 spectrum and developed a solid curriculum," said Mark Beehler, assistant superintendent for the school system, in a statement. "But after experiencing the Woz U Education STEAM kits, our educators realized the value in implementing this comprehensive solution."

Superintendent Robert Breidenstein added that he believes the implementation of the STEAM curriculum "will accelerate the Salamanca School District's technological expertise and truly support our vision of becoming a STEAM district of excellence."

Woz U, which also has a coding bootcamp, uses branding from Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple, who has publicly stated that he has no involvement in the operational aspects of the company.