The June Harless Center for Rural Educational Research and Development in the College of Education at Marshall University was recently awarded a $10,000 grant from Alcon Laboratories, Inc., to expand funding for the Arts and Bots project.
Arts and Bots integrates technology, literature and history through the use of familiar art supplies, circuit boards, lights, motors and sensors while promoting technological literacy and informal learning. Students design, build and program robots that tell stories of literary and historical characters and events.
Arts and Bots is one of several projects implemented by the Harless CREATE satellite, a branch of Carnegie Mellon University’s CREATE Lab at the June Harless Center. The satellite integrates robotics and technology initiatives in West Virginia schools including Marshall University Professional Development Schools. This initiative aligns with the mission of the Harless Center to provide leadership in education initiatives for West Virginia educators and students.
The grant, which was originally designed to encourage middle school girls’ interest in STEM topics, was expanded to include both genders and a larger age group due to its success. The funds will be used to provide teachers stipends, equipment and support to 16 teachers in eight schools. In addition, it will enable educators and rural communities in West Virginia a real-time portal to the flow of cutting edge technologies and programs being developed at the lab in Pittsburgh.
The vision of the CREATE Lab is to catalyze local and global community change by technologically empowering people to creatively explore, learn, share and directly improve our ecology. The Harless Center’s mission is to provide leadership in education initiatives for West Virginia educators and students.
For more information, contact Dr. Stan Maynard at maynard@marshall.edu or visit marshall.edu/harless and cmucreatelab.org.
Also, anyone  interested in supporting the June Harless Center programs within the College of Education may contact Rick Robinson in the Marshall Foundation by phone at 304-696-7081, or by e-mail at robinsor@marshall.edu.
