How the PAST Foundation Turned Real-World Problems Into a Learning Ecosystem

Our “Steward Stories” series captures lessons learned from interviews with leaders of mature, purpose-built ecosystem intermediaries. An ecosystem steward is a boundary-spanning leader who goes beyond traditional out-of-school time (OST) system building to weave together the diverse people, places, and possibilities that shape a young person’s daily life. Rather than managing a single isolated network, stewards collaborate across K-12 schools, youth development programs, and workforce systems to build vibrant, equitable learning ecosystems. They drive systemic change from practice to policy by creating purpose-built intermediaries, developing scalable cross-system training tools, and championing “Future Features” of learning. These core priorities include promoting learner agency, institutionalizing “unwalled” schools that connect community resources to formal education, broadening the definition of educators to include informal mentors, and normalizing pathways for students to receive school credit or credentials for out-of-school learning.

 The starting points, paths, and targets set by these stewards are as varied as the conditions and opportunities present within their communities. But they share similarities in vision and approach. Learn More Here.

By: Karen Pittman and Merita Irby

At its core, The PAST Foundation is an educational R&D prototyping facility that pushes the boundaries of education, inviting the world to design, build, and engage in experiences that connect learning to life. PAST partners with K-12 schools, post-secondary institutions, and industry and community partners to design and research innovative programs that deliver rigorous, relevant education to students in Central Ohio and beyond, offering three broad types of services:

• Creating research-based student experiences, engaging student programs, and providing opportunities for real-world application of knowledge (and can help clients develop tailored design challenges)
• Providing professional learning experiences, collaborating with educators, administrators and industry leaders to create strategies designed to give real meaning to educational content
• Conducting research, including research syntheses and evaluating programs to measure impact and outcomes in schools and districts in Central Ohio and across the country

To date, the foundation’s innovative approaches to bring STEM education to life for students and educators through transdisciplinary problem-based learning in field sites and with industry experts have reached over 3.2 million students and more than 24,000 educators have participated in 596 programs at over 120 locations. PAST has worked and collaborated with well over 500 business and industry partners focused on linking learning to life, and 1,000 school districts across the country have been influenced by their work. The PAST Foundation has leveraged millions of foundation, corporate, and public dollars to ensure that all Central Ohio youth build strong STEM identities to secure their futures.

This case story focuses on PAST’s decision to become a catalyst for systemic transformation working with education, community, business, and industry partners to create ongoing program-based learning opportunities for high school students and educators that build the skills and mindsets needed for the region’s current and future workforce.

PAST believes that summer and out-of-school time aren’t breaks from learning; they are opportunities to make learning come alive. Their STEM-focused summer programs give students and educators the opportunity to explore real-world challenges through immersive, hands-on experiences. Whether indoors at the Innovation Lab or outdoors in the community, every program is designed to spark curiosity, build confidence, and develop future-ready skills.

PAST’s programming reaches thousands of students in the afterschool and summer months, brings fully equipped portable labs to them during the school day, and provides professional development for teachers and administrators, including fellowships that award industry certifications, all in partnership with industry and business.

Isra and Willow’s Keynote on the Summer Workforce Internship

“The PAST Foundation Summer Workforce Internship Program provided 70 interns with a transformative eight-week experience. About 25 interns returned this year, while approximately 45 new students joined the program for the first time.

During this time, we gained hands-on experience and earned industry-recognized credentials in various fields, including CAD and Additive Manufacturing, Drone Flight, Media Production, CompTIA Fundamentals, Entrepreneurship and Small Business, and Healthcare Six Sigma. In addition to earning credentials, we worked on projects such as the Passion Project with Leaders of Today and the AI Industry Project with Deloitte.

We all actively engaged with real-world projects and dedicated ourselves to various tasks throughout the program. Our involvement in these projects not only enhanced our skills but also allowed us to gain a deeper understanding of the workplace. Through hands-on experience and practical challenges, we refined our skills and developed insights that are crucial for success in navigating the professional environment.

This internship may have been the first step into the professional world for many of us, helping us acquire valuable life skills needed to become productive and reliable young adults.”

Annalies Corbin — Local Ecosystem Steward, Field Scientist, and Real-World Learning Enthusiast

PAST’s roots trace back to Annalies’ training as an anthropologist and field scientist. Her early career in Montana, the High Arctic, and the Pacific Northwest taught her that learning transforms people when they work side by side on real problems. That orientation toward authentic, collaborative problem-solving became the foundation on which PAST would eventually be built.

Throughout the 1990s, she ran field schools around the world — immersive experiences in which young people and professionals worked together on challenges in archaeology, ecology, and engineering. These were not simulations; they were real-world projects with real-world stakes. Annalies saw the profound effect these experiences had on learners. At the same time, Annalies saw communities everywhere wrestling with a shared challenge. Young people were capable, curious, and eager for relevance, yet the systems around them — schools, industries, universities — were not designed to harness that energy.

She began bringing together educators, researchers, employers, and families to co-design learning experiences rooted in real work. These early efforts were prototypes of what would become PAST’s transdisciplinary, ecosystem-based model: a way of organizing learning around questions and problems that matter, rather than the boundaries of traditional disciplines.

PAST Foundation Timeline

Forging Connections

2000 — Dr. Annalies Corbin and an international network of anthropologists and field scientists found the PAST Foundation to link real-world research with learners. PAST designs and delivers field schools for teens and adults nationwide in partnership with Yellowstone National Park, Lincoln Zoo School, universities, and public agencies — introducing thousands of learners to authentic, transdisciplinary field science.

2005 — Annalies moves to Columbus, Ohio, and, sensing industry and education leaders’ interest, decides to explore opportunities to infuse PAST’s models into the region. With a catalytic startup donation, PAST transitions from a project-based collective to a program-based nonprofit and relocates its headquarters to Columbus, Ohio.

Strengthening Connections

2006 — PAST partners with Ohio State University, Battelle Memorial Institute, and regional education leaders to help launch the Metro Early College High School on OSU’s campus. PAST leads transdisciplinary program design, beginning with Garbology, which earns national recognition.

2007 — PAST and Battelle conduct a combined ethnographic and policy network study of STEM design and implementation at Metro, influencing national thinking about STEM school models.

2008 — Metro’s success contributes to the formation and early growth of the Ohio STEM Learning Network. PAST provides design support, capacity-building, and coaching for emerging STEM schools across the state.

2012 — PAST launches a Professional Learning Network to help educators adopt inquiry-driven, project-centered, transdisciplinary learning.

Sustaining Connections

2015 — PAST renovates and then opens the 32,000 sq ft PAST Innovation Lab (PIL), an independent educational R&D and prototyping facility supported by private donors, foundations, and industry partners. The Innovation Lab becomes the hub for student programming, educator training, curriculum prototyping, and ecosystem design — expanding opportunities for hands-on STEM learning across Central Ohio.

2018 — PAST designated as a Regional Programming Center (K-12) of the Ohio Cyber Range Institute, powered by the University of Cincinnati (UC).

2021 — PAST builds new community programming, expands summer and afterschool learning, partners with industry to offer real-world STEM pathways, and deepens statewide influence in career-connected learning.

Scaling Connections

2022 — PAST launches Portable Innovation Labs (PILs) with major support from Battelle, bringing mobile, modular STEM labs directly to school campuses statewide.

2023 — PAST forms a new partnership with 100 Roads to build hybrid, virtual, and metaverse-enabled learning spaces. PAST partners with StartSOLE’s PortfoliOH, an all-in-one educational empowerment platform, that helps students document experiences, build career plans, and navigate success with verified seals.

2024 — PAST, 100 Roads, and Education Reimagined develop pilots for Virtual Home Bases — a new advisory-centered model integrating physical and digital learning spaces. Summer STEM programming engages nearly 10,000 learners and 70 high school interns in hands-on learning and credentialing pathways, in partnership with almost 50 organizations. PAST co-launches its first K-12 to college microschool pathway (Early IT) with UC, three district partners, and Deloitte, focused on underserved and first-gen college-bound students.

Karen Pittman and Merita Irby are co-founders of Knowledge to Power Catalysts and managing partners of the Alliance for Youth Thriving. This post draws from Learning Ecosystem Intermediaries: Cultivating Connections Across Systems & Ecosystems to Help Youth Thrive, co-authored with Merita Irby and commissioned by Remake Learning (January 2026).