Hands On Is Minds On

Our Learning Philosophy

“What will you bring to the world?”

Students can’t hope to answer this question if we haven’t first brought the world to them. Teaching with Pitsco is putting a piece of the world in students’ hands and asking, “How does this apply to your life?”

Hands-on exploration and problem-solving reach across the curriculum and connect the classroom to careers. This has been a guiding ideal in Pitsco’s philosophy since the company’s founding more than 50 years ago, well before STEM had a name.

The true building blocks of our products and curricula aren’t balsa wood or robotics parts or multimedia presentations or even robust standards correlations, though all of these play a part. The true building blocks are shared experiences that engage hands and minds. These are what impart the next-generation skills that will serve students in life.

Future-Relevant Learning

Our experience tells us that the best way to educate students and prepare them for college and careers is to provide socially interactive, learner-centric environments where they can exchange and test ideas, work with others, and lead open-ended projects. We know it’s more than just content acquisition – it’s helping students develop perseverance, collaboration skills, and a growth mind-set.

This experience is rooted in and supported by research-based, future-relevant learning frameworks that form the foundation of our products and curriculum. We integrate the tenets of these frameworks into our development process to ensure we provide the resources schools need to help students develop the transferable skills required for success in life in an ever-changing world.

State and national learning standards are designed to bring consistency across demographics and clearly define mastery in content disciplines. Pitsco Education products, activities, curriculum, and solutions are built to address these standards and ensure students effectively acquire and retain knowledge.

Developing Workforce-Ready Skills

Self-directed learners become self-directed workers. Employers increasingly want employees who demonstrate initiative and skill when communicating, performing technical duties, and creatively solving unexpected problems. Students in a Pitsco lab or classroom are the drivers of their own progress, whether working in pairs or with the whole class. The ownership they take over their projects in school is the foundation for the ownership they will take over their projects in their careers.

Unparalleled Professional Development

If you’ve never taught in a Pitsco STEM lab, you’ve got an adventure ahead of you. You’ll have an unbelievable array of resources at your fingertips. But you will need someone to show you the ropes. Pitsco has a staff of specialists ready to ease you into the role of facilitator so that your students get the most out of their explorations, and they will visit your program periodically and suggest improvements if necessary.