Koresh Dance Company led a workshop on computer science with the students of MS 88.

Thanks to a grant from Time Warner Cable, Pace University in New York City has implemented a new program called STEAM, designed to expose students to science, technology, engineering and math (known as STEM education) using the arts. The university partnered with Koresh Dance Company to lead an interactive workshop on computer science concepts in February for a middle school in New York City. Students learned how choreography, with its strict instructions, is similar to computer code and worked with Pace professors to “code” their own dance. At the end of the workshop, students and parents had the chance to see a full Koresh performance at Pace’s Schimmel Center.

Lauren Birney, who directs the STEM Center Collaboratory at Pace, says the STEAM program is a great way to interest kids in math or science via the artforms they already recognize and enjoy.

Photo by SA PRO, Inc., courtesy of Pace University