SciQuel

Over the past decade, government funding for research and development (R&D) has invariably exceeded $120 billion annually, financially supporting over half of all R&D at universities. However, the general public is not well-informed of the scientific discoveries resulting from their weighty investment (both the basic and the revolutionary). The negative implications of this gap are obvious.

The Pew Research Center, based on a survey, classifies 32% of Americans as having "medium" scientific knowledge, and 29% of Americans as having "low" science knowledge. That's 200 million Americans who do not have a solid science background. There's a racial disparity here too: 48% of whites have a "high" science knowledge level, compared to only 23% of Hispanics and just 9% of African Americans.

An example consequence of this low scientific literacy is vaccine hesitancy, which is especially relevant in the age of COVID-19. There's a well-known racial disparity in COVID-19 vaccine uptake, though this has lessened for Black people over the past year. Still, compared to 82.6% of whites, a smaller 71.6% of Native Americans are fully vaccinated. Earlier this year, this contrast was even more stark 25% difference.

This is a costly problem that extends beyond the public health realm and far beyond the United States. In Italy, around 2015, an invasive bacteria that kills olive trees was detected. Instead of turning to science for help, misinformation ran rampant and local citizens accused scientists of causing the disease, with Nature publishing headlines like "Italian scientists under investigation after olive-tree deaths." Years later, the problem has worsened significantly and the pest has spread to other countries, costing the economy an estimated $20 billion euros (BBC: "Deadly olive tree disease across Europe 'could cost billions'").

The negative consequences of the divide between scientific knowledge and the society that funds it are innumerable - they harm without regard for national borders, scientific fields, or time periods - and this is a problem that must be solved.

Our solution is a collection of quizzes, articles, podcasts, and videos on scientific concepts and topics, hosted on an innovative and novel self-developed web platform. The technology is key to our solution, because it allows communication with subject matter experts, in real time.

By having scientists write about science, we can discuss science deeply and meaningfully. We can be an exciting part of children's lives ("talk to real scientists!") and be a part of a learning process they will love engaging with. Artists who make complementary illustrations will help convey points clearly and memorably. We can benefit visual learners and appeal to every learner. Finally, educators and journalists who edit and review our work will allow us to always create with the non-technical nature of our audience in mind. We know it's important to understand the needs of those we are serving, and the educators will help us with that too.

The web platform will incorporate features such as user accounts, quizzes, bookmarking, commenting, and note-taking to build a supportive learning community.The engagement is part of what makes it special; people will want to come back test their knowledge and see what else they can learn.

Quizzes at the beginning and end of each content piece will challenge the reader to think through what they already know. Equally - if not more - importantly, the quizzes will allow learners to realize they can learn science, and will increase their self-confidence, with the result that learners will feel comfortable talking about science (spawning something analogous to people's enthusiasm for talking about sports, politics, or cooking).

Bookmarking will allow readers to save useful articles, as well as snippets of text and sentences they find helpful. Additionally, having both end-of-article and in-line comments (where a specific portion of the text or a specific pixel of an image is visibly referred to) will allow productive discussions. Note-taking is similar, but only visible to the individual learner. Teachers can monitor notes and discussions through an interactive dashboard, to easily track engagement and reach out to students with less activity, and can create their own quizzes as well.

Our initial target population is underserved communities in the Boston area, particularly middle and high school students, though adults can benefit too. Though Boston K-12 education includes "STEM projects & experiences," first-hand experience from meeting with high school students has taught us that this in-class exposure is insufficient: Experiments in their lab-based classes often fail, for unknown reasons as students are not taught to think and discuss further, and many underlying mechanisms are not explained, such as why DNA migrates towards the positively-charged cathode in electrophoresis. For a scientist used to laboratory protocols and keeping meticulous records, this was horrifying to learn. Disadvantaged populations who need it most often don't have the resources to pursue independent science education. There isn't a resource like ours, that is created through a collaboration with scientists and educators.

Our solution will meet students where they are. They can read about topics of interest, from a far wider breadth of disciplines than school can ever cover (from the Hawaiian bobtail squid to Hycean worlds). They can challenge their assumptions when answering quiz questions. They can ask their own questions, and answer others' (which contributes to learning as well).

We understand jargon can be a daunting barrier, and so we write a clickable "pop-up" definition and an in context usage for scientific terms, without having to exclude technical language entirely (which would impact how deep a discussion we can get). We understand some are visual learners, so place an emphasis on topical illustrations, without mimicking the style of sometimes-hard-to-approach textbook figures.

Our entire experience is designed to maximize the approachability of the scientific content we present. By being a free resource and truly open access, we also maximize our accessibility.

I have experience as a teacher, having worked with students from a middle school to a community college to a university level, and as a scientist, having research experience in both engineering and immunology. I volunteer with an organization (HMS MEDscience) that works to increase science exposure for underserved high school students in Boston, by bringing them into laboratories and medical simulation rooms. I also volunteer with Health Professions Recruitment & Exposure Program (HPREP) at Harvard Medical School, which is a science education program that also provides mentorship to underrepresented populations. These experiences have inspired the "clickable scientific terms." While new words can be foreign (think "transcription"), we don't assume someone can't learn them, and we recognize they are an essential part of science. Numerous other members of our team have similar and additional relevant experience as well.

Our team includes members from diverse ethnic backgrounds, including native Spanish and Chinese speakers who can translate our content into other common languages. Nearly 10% of non-English speakers in Massachusetts speak Spanish, making quality Spanish content a recognized key priority for our team. Also very importantly, one of our team members has taught in Boston public schools for twenty years.

Without the suggestions of our team, or the tremendously helpful interviews of the people we hope to serve, we would not have thought to include important features like 1) bookmarking scientific terms, 2) switching to a dark theme, and 3) emailing updates on topics that learners choose to follow. Even the small things can make a big difference, and our diverse backgrounds and experiences allow us to notice those small things.

Our primary motivation in applying to Solve is to meet mentors, partners, and colleagues. Despite the amount of time we've spent thinking about the problems with existing science education, we're still constantly amazed by the new ideas people have. We realize that while we have a good team, we don't yet have the best team possible. On the technical side, we want to push the limits of what is achievable today by adding personalization that can answer common questions and better identify at-risk students. On the legal side, we're not lawyers, and as we expand and incorporate as a non-profit, we see a need here. On the cultural side, we always want to better understand the communities of the world to truly understand each community's unique need. We haven't been everywhere, and we have much to learn from everyone. On the market side, we would appreciate more connections with people in the education system. We hope to conduct a pilot with a school or school district and that's one place the Solve community can help so much.

Until now, and even today, education and scientific research are often thought of as separate worlds. It doesn't have to be, though. We are bringing active scientists into middle and high school classrooms and in that, we are truly unique. That's not all. Our use of a tech-reliant solution with multiple interactive features allows us to teach and storytell accessibly and scalably while keeping the human in mind. It's not possible to have conversations and answer questions across the country, or across the world, otherwise. We are specifically designing for underserved communities and we are also building up algorithms to identify students at risk and predict subtopics of interest. The latter, with some more development, will allow us to later implement a custom, truly personal curriculum that can cover the fundamentals and go beyond in the exact areas a student is interested in. This is only possible because we work with scientists who are at the forefront of human knowledge.

In the next year:

1) Grow to serve at least 100,000 students, families, and educators, in economically-disadvantaged and underserved communities.

While this may seem unrealistically high, we believe this is achievable with the right partnerships and supporters. The Boston public school district educates 54,000+ students, 72.4% of whom are Black or Hispanic/Latino. The San Jose Unified School District educates 30,000+ students, 51% of whom are Hispanic/Latino.

2) Spark 500,000 conversations between students and between students and parents.

We believe science should be something that is fun that people will want to talk about. Beyond meme-worthy fun facts, we want to foster meaningful connections at school and at home through a shared sense of wonder of the world.

3) Fully build out our web platform and implement additional personalization such as machine learning algorithms to suggest articles of interest, to identify gaps in students' knowledge and automatically provide necessary support (readings, quizzes), and to proactively alert teachers of students who may need additional guidance.

We are focusing first on getting our platform up and running. As researchers, we also recognize the potential in analyzing large datasets to generate conclusions that can be applied to benefit society.

In the long-term:

1) Directly increase the frequency of science as a conversation topic, and indirectly increase scientific literacy.

As a teaching assistant in college, I was often told that you truly understand something when you are able to explain it to someone else. And I experienced that. I was reluctant to bring up subjects I didn't fully understand, but couldn't contain myself when I felt confident about something. By introducing our quiz questions before and after each article, students can recognize the dramatic improvement in their understanding of a topic. This will increase their confidence and the frequency they will discuss that science topic with others.

2) Increase baseline scientific knowledge.

Before getting the flu vaccine (including at Harvard Medical School no less), I have always been asked if I understood a particular CDC fact-sheet. In bold, "Influenza vaccine does not cause flu." (emphasis the CDC's) This is "duh" for someone who studies immunology but might be a significant cause of worry for someone who hasn't had the opportunity to study the sciences. By explaining key common scientific mechanisms - the scientific "how's" and "why's" - we will increase the baseline level of knowledge that people have.

3) Increase the accessibility of science, across all disciplines.

With the current academic publishing system, new research discoveries are often locked behind a significant paywall (an average of $33.41 per paper, more if you want to deeply understand a topic). The public is paying to generate this knowledge, and we want to make it accessible and understandable for all.

Indicators include:

1) Quiz metrics (e.g., percent accuracy, improvements between pre-test and post-test scores). Number of article views and article likes. Length of students' activities on our platform. Number of students who report increased engagement with (i) science curriculum and (2) school more generally.

2) We can survey parents of students before and after the students start using our platform, asking a randomized list of basic science questions, to assess the "transmission" of scientific literacy and changes in the parents' understanding of science after their children engage in our learning process. We can also ask questions like how often students brought up science in conversations in the past week, month, and year.

3) The number of research groups who have published a "companion piece" for one of their recent research articles with us. (The companion piece would be written for a general audience, which assumes the reader doesn't have a science background, in sharp contrast to the very dense nature of scientific research papers.)

For students:

Engaging quizzes, articles, podcasts, and videos about fundamental scientific concepts and new science research -> Personal & customizable curriculum for students to engage with -> More students grow to enjoy science and find science fun -> More students, with their diverse perspectives, pursue a career in STEM fields -> More scientific and technological innovation in society

For scientists:

Create quizzes, articles, podcasts, and videos about fundamental scientific concepts and new science research in their field -> Students read about and gain an interest in their field and work -> Students bring up their newfound knowledge in conversations with other students, parents, and other adults -> More discussion across society of their field of study

The core technology we rely on is a web-based platform and mobile application. While this may seem simple, apps and the internet are an efficient way to reach billions of people. [Insert metaphor about reinventing the wheel :) ] We are repurposing an existing technology to do more good, for the greatest number of people possible.

Our website and app will host scientific content we create [software and mobile applications]. We will make good use of illustrations, infographics, podcasts, and videos to reach visual and auditory learners [audiovisual learning]. We will conduct research with data we will collect [big data] to find out the best ways to teach concepts with the most engagement [behavioral technology]. We encourage asking questions and participating in discussions through commenting, note-taking, and bookmarking [crowd-sourced service/social networks]. This allows learners to effectively communicate and ask questions to scientists teaching the topics that they study. We are committed to providing an interactive, personal, and customized experience, achieved through continuously refined algorithms [artificial intelligence/machine learning], to identify interests and fill gaps in a learner's knowledge, and proactively alert educators to students who may need help. Importantly, our team has the educational, technical, and scientific experience and background.

We believe in fostering a diverse, equitable, and inclusive environment. Our work, our goal, and our entire mission is to create a diverse, equitable, and inclusive world - one where financial and literary barriers don't block the path to scientific knowledge. We want to do more than help the people who directly use our services; we want the students we serve to in turn stimulate thoughtful scientific conversations with the people around them and to build up the communities they grow up in. This means we are talking to people, many many people, in the communities we live in and hope to serve. We enter conversations believing that everybody has a meaningful and important perspective to share. No thought is too small. No thought is too trivial. In the team, we are respective of differences, whether differences in identity, ideas, or experiences. We have a diverse team and leadership team with people who have different identities, and that's good! We each share a common vision to bring science out of the ivory tower and into the world, and if we all thought the same way, we wouldn't be able to even figure out the problems of the world as it is now. We encourage input from every single member of our team and we include all members of our team in the work that we do. That's what gives us a fuller, more nuanced view of the world. That's what makes us us. And that's what makes us the right people for the job.

We provide educational science content (articles, podcasts, and videos) that is tailored for a middle school to high school-aged audience. But more than that, we provide an interactive digital experience that makes learning science easy, fun, and exciting. Our key beneficiaries are students in middle and high school, especially students without access to scientific resources like academic journal databases, for financial or other reasons. We also benefit educators who want a useful resource for their classes. We are unique in our connections with scientists and other academics, which allows us to provide a "real world" perspective students cannot find elsewhere, and newer, more relevant content than can be found in standardized textbooks. We will first reach people through contacting school districts, our website, and attending education conferences, but we realize the need to do more. That's part of the reason we will continually perform research on communities we can benefit most, and attempt to reach them, as well as research to increase the custom-tailored approach of our platform.

In the short-term, we plan to raise funding through a Kickstarter or GoFundMe. In the medium term, we will allow donations from generous readers and apply to grants from private foundations. In the long run, we will generate revenue by selling merchandise (e.g. SciQuel T-shirts with our unique illustrative graphics, at-home science kits for children, and print magazines).

Throughout, it's important to us that we offer our content for free, so that we can serve the people who need it most. (Students may not have the time or resources to interact with content outside of school, and free content will remove the all-too-common financial barrier to knowledge.)

We welcome advice on financial sustainability. It's important to us that our content remain free for everyone, but we also recognize the need to survive long-term (or that content will no longer be there).

A team member applied for and was awarded a $300 Solv[ED] exploratory micro-grant. We also expect to receive funding (in the thousand dollar range) from a Harvard Innovation Labs grant.