How do communities at the front lines of economic disruption develop the skills, resources, and public imagination to transform their narrative and economies? South Fayette School District is involved in supporting an economic redevelopment project called the Future of Work Kentucky. The district is working with Bit Source, a software development company formed by displaced coal miners, SOAR (Shaping Our Appalachian Region), and school districts in Pikeville Kentucky to integrate computational thinking into K-12 education to reimagine education for the future of work.
Through this partnership we see both the immediate and the long-term impact of providing structure around this initiative, in ensuring that we are able to strengthen digital literacy, enhance computational thinking, and engage individual Kentuckians, Kentucky communities, and outside audiences alike in re-imagining Kentucky as the source of resilient, deliberate innovation.
Now in its third year of partnership South Fayette has been teaching cohorts of teachers from the Pikeville Kentucky region, at the STEAM Summer Institute, to implement aspects of the K-12 vertically aligned computational thinking (CS/STEAM Learning) pathway into teaching and learning. As a result of this partnership, The Remake Learning Network in Pittsburgh has expanded membership to the Eastern Kentucky region. In May 2019 Pikeville will participate in Remake Learning Days showcasing 45 events taking place in local school districts which have resulted through this partnership.
To learn more see the links below:
Justice, Charles and Ford, Sam and Owens, Aileen. SXSW Presentation, “Coal to Code: Reimagining a Disrupted Economy.” https://schedule.sxsw.com/2018/events/PP79299
Bit Source: Appalachian Ingenuity
Can You Teach a Coal Miner To Code? https://www.wired.com/2015/11/can-you-teach-a-coal-miner-to-code/#.bk97ass9p