The children's museum of pittsburgh will collaborate with a team of partners and local advisors to expand the genius, JOY and love program to incorporate CO-learning experiences in which high school…

The Children's Museum of Pittsburgh received a $477,246 Project Grant award from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) under the Museums for America (MFA) federal grant program (CFDA 45.301). The award will support a three-year collaboration between the museum and partners to expand the "Genius, Joy and Love" program. Key activities include research-based workshops on educational practices that value student experiences, art and making activities, and action planning to address educational inequities. The project aims to raise awareness of equity-focused approaches, foster meaningful collaboration, and empower participants to recognize and address injustice in education. This will be implemented through three phases: a co-learning model with balanced adult and youth participation, program review and development of new modular offerings, and embedding the program into the museum's regular mission-aligned programming.

The children's museum of pittsburgh will collaborate with a team of partners and local advisors to expand the genius, JOY and love program to incorporate CO-learning experiences in which high school students and teachers participate in three types of activities: research-based workshops about education practices that value students' experiences outside school as assets; art and making activities; and supported action planning. The project will be conducted in three phases. Phase one will carry out a version of the program where adults and youth are balanced CO-learners, phase two will review evaluation results from phase one and develop new modular programs, and phase three will embed the program as a regular part of the museum's mission-aligned programming. The project will raise awareness of equity-based approaches to educating, support meaningful collaboration, and empower participants with action plans to recognize and address injustice so that program participants feeling energized and motivated to reclaim education.