Equitable and Quality STEM Education for All

Several research has revealed that intelligence scores have risen worldwide, and there has been much educational investment that ought to enhance creativity. However, Torrance creative thinking test scores in the United States have decreased significantly since 1990, with the decrease being greatest for kindergarteners through third graders. According to the results, students' scores in problem-solving in the United States rank second to last among countries that scored above the OECD level (OECD, 2014).

My four years of experience studying abroad in Australia and the US has imparted to me the significance of STEM. At the core of STEM education is critical thinking and problem-solving. Students are taught how to think critically, not what to think, in order to solve real-world problems. This empowers them to be researchers and inventive thinkers. It also fosters collaboration, transforms mindsets and attitudes as well as builds stronger communities. 

However, my thorough research of education in the US and across the world shows several challenges to STEM integration in schools. This includes struggles with new teaching methods, curriculum, and practical constraints. Firstly, the new change requires a shift from teacher-led to student-led learning as well as teachers' ability to meet diverse students in terms of individual differences and cognitive capacities. Second, the lack of resources and adequate facilities also place restraints on the full integration of STEM in schools. Thirdly, social inequalities, such as digital divides and gender assumptions that women lack the capacities in STEM, have prolonged this problem for decades.

My project named Sciencious, which is stemmed from science and consciousness, aims to address UN's SDG 4 - Equitable and Quality Education - by cultivating in disadvantaged students a passion for learning and conducting STEM studies, as well as an awareness of their unique strengths and interests beyond the conventional educational curriculum in the nation. The organization has been operating mostly virtually for over four years by a team of passionate young students who resides across continents to deliver STEM programs, educational syllabuses, fundraising events, resources, and leadership opportunities for disadvantaged and potential children in their communities. Examples of Sciencious' services include free STEM articles publication platform, free tutoring programs in eight different countries, research programs and contests in multiple fields, and podcasts. 

• STEM Research Programs and Contest: https://www.scienciouscomp.org...
• Podcasts: https://rss.com/podcasts/scien...
• Global Tutoring: https://www.scienciousglobaltu...
• STEM Journal: https://sciencious.com/
• STEM Magazines: https://sciencious.com/magazin...

Sciencious has been striving to improve the STEM education and leadership experience of youths around the world, regardless of race, gender, or cultural background. Hence, the organization has established five distinct segments that provide unique leadership and volunteering opportunities for STEM enthusiasts to utilize and develop their potential. Our organization targets those who are willing to take challenges in leading a team of diverse volunteers to mobilize STEM resources to underserved children from K-12 in different continents. This includes teams of journals, media, podcasts, tutoring, and general educational syllabuses.

• Firstly, the journal segment of Sciencious enables young STEM authors and editors to contribute their writing, research, and editing abilities to the development of Sciencious journal, a free publication platform where new ideas and knowledge can be shared. Sciencious website currently has approximately 70 authors, 115 articles published, three magazines, and 5990 subscribers.
• Secondly, our media team consists of artistic young students who are passionate about exploring and expanding their knowledge in STEM by creating posts on scientific facts and quizzes for our Instagram account as well as simple scientific experiments videos for our YouTube account. This segment allows youths to share their STEM interests, knowledge, and discoveries by conducting and posting their own experiments and research. 
• Thirdly, Sciencious also provides a unique opportunity for students to reach out and interview global experts in STEM around the world on a variety of topics. Our podcast named Sciencious Soundwaves currently has 16 episodes hosted by passionate students around the world who had interviewed scientists and scientists from Harvard, Yale, MIT, and more. 
• Fourthly, Sciencious also provides worldwide students to share their STEM knowledge and skills by offering free online/in-person lessons and resources to disadvantaged children in their region. Hence, our team has created eight tutoring programs in different countries - including UAE, Vietnam, Thailand, USA, UK, Canada, Colombia, and Japan - with around 30+ students and tutors in each program. 
• Lastly, Sciencious offers global students opportunities to showcase their problem-solving abilities through annual STEM competitions, such as the 2022 STEM Writing Competition, 2022 Hackathon Workshop, and 2023 STEM Research Contest.
• In addition, Sciencious also welcomes passionate young leaders to establish a chapter in their city/state in order to promote the organization’s events, programs, and opportunities as well as develop their own fundraising events, workshops, and so on.

Sciencious team includes dedicated young individuals residing across the world to deliver our services and opportunities to passionate and underprivileged children. Our executive members and volunteers are well-suited for their unique roles due to the direct reach they have to the target audience as well as the similar experience that they have undergone in which STEM education and leadership have been seen as absent or inadequate in their communities. Therefore, members of our team possess a diverse range of perspectives that contribute to our innovative programs that serve a wide range of needs from underprivileged children globally. In order to extend the impact of Sciencious, an estimation of 30 capable, young STEM leaders have been recruited to deliver Sciencious programs and resources to students in need residing in their communities. The 30 chapter presidents are offered an opportunity to recruit their own team of volunteers to establish a club in their school that further promotes leadership and community services. 

• 8 tutoring programs with 20+ members for each regions, 10+ students per period of time.
• Sciencious Journal: 70+ authors, 115+ articles published, 5990 subscribers, 3 magazines published, around 10 experimental videos upload on youtube+website
• 2021 STEM Writing Competition: 100 participants from 30 different countries
• Global Chapters: 30+ chapters - conducting in-person/virtual workshops, raising funds through drives, etc, and creating partnerships.
• Sciencious Hackathon: 144 registrations, 50 participants 
• Sciencious Podcast: 15 episodes uploaded - interviewing STEM experts, from professors at Yale, MIT, Harvard, etc, and scientists around the world.
• Sciencious 2023 STEM Courses + Research Program and Contest: 6 courses were created on a variety of STEM fields, 154 students registered for the courses, and 30 participated in the contest
• Main Sciencious Instagram with 2268 followers

Despite having a team of like-minded young individuals residing across the world with a willingness to share their services with disadvantaged peers in their communities, Sciencious has been lacking partnerships and collaborations with other organizations and experts to diversify and promote its educational syllabuses. Despite the effort to reach out its missions to other partners over the past four years, it has been difficult to collaborate on in-person projects due to the distance and funding barriers. Hence, Sciencious hopes to join the challenge to expand its network by strengthening its relationships with other organizations and experts with the support of Solve and Tiger Global Impact Ventures. Furthermore, Sciencious team would also hope to conduct more in-person events and opportunities in order to deliver STEM resources directly to low-income and rural students who do not have access to electronic devices and the internet. Hence, Solve’s comprehensive needs assessment and development modules will become essential to start remodelling Sciencious’ future operations so that more effective projects can be implemented to achieve the team’s missions. 

Sciencious' current CEO, Vivian Nguyen, has been connecting to communities in need by requesting to partner with local to national organizations, like Save the Children and UNICEF USA. Vivian has been serving as the Junior President of the UNICEF UNITED Club in her school to conduct educational services and spread awareness to students in her school and communities. Through this role, Vivian has been able to reach Sciencious remote opportunities and programs to interested individuals in her communities and beyond. Beyond the headquarter, Sciencious international members have also been promoting Sciencious projects through social media, local schools, the internet, and local organizations with aligned missions. 

What distinguishes Sciencious from other solutions is its strong embodiment of inclusiveness in its team formation and community services. Sciencious offers inclusive learning platforms where multiple aspects of STEM leadership can be cultivated in like-minded individuals of all races, genders, and experiences around the world. Beyond the chances to organize creative challenges, workshops, and fundraising events for low-income children, the organization also offers space for students to interview global professionals on their interested STEM fields, and tutor other children worldwide using their knowledge and skills. Hence, our solution does not only highlight the diversity in individuals’ backgrounds but also in their skills, interests, and perspectives. 

Our goal for the coming years is to successfully create and deliver physical, educational toolkits to rural children in Georgia, USA, who are lacking access to electronic devices and the internet. In order to accomplish this goal, the organization intends to implement the following steps:

1. Conduct board meetings for Education Team to brainstorm potential kits’ ideas and materials
2. Sketch and test the final product.
3. Partner with educational organizations in Georgia to reach out to rural schools
4. Obtain grants to manufacture around 50 kits first.
5. Contact and deliver the STEM kits to schools in Georgia that are considered lacking STEM integration.

Sciencious has developed four statements for its long-term mission:

1. Engaged in a networked global community of STEM practices.

2. Accessible learning resources and opportunities to ensure equitable development. 

3. Educational experiences that include multifaceted approaches to solving grand challenges. 

4. Societal and cultural environment that promotes diversity and opportunities in STEM.

Developing physical STEM toolkits about climate change, one of the most permanent issues confronting global humanity, that is both educational and inspiring for low-income, young students residing in the US will address all four statements of our mission. Due to the absence of STEM practices as determined by secondary research and personal experience of Sciencious members living in third-world nations or low-income communities, delivering a physical product to disadvantaged children is predicted to be an effective first step in inspiring them to pursue a passion and lifelong learning in STEM. Furthermore, having a hands-on experience in STEM also brings the significance of the subjects to life as well as developing practical skills and creativity in the students. 

Sciencious implements most of its services through online websites and platforms, including website developers through Wix and WordPress, as well as a podcast in RSS Feed that distributes our podcasts to other platforms, like Spotify, Apple Podcast, and Google Podcast. 

Sciencious executive board members, who are responsible for leading the five main segments of the organization, include 20 members from 16 different countries. Each segment of the organization also has a temporary board of volunteers who serve for up to 6 months. There are currently 20 authors and editors recruited in the Journal Team, approximately 80 STEM tutors in 8 tutoring programs (around 10 tutors in each region), 12 podcast editors and hosts, 7 members working in the Education Team, and around 30 chapter presidents. 

Sciencious has been operating for four years.

Not only does Sciencious embodies diversity in its leadership opportunities given its five distinct segments, but our team has also been incorporating inclusiveness within the services. First and foremost, Sciencious has embedded equal rights to all members and volunteers, despite race, gender, and cultural background, in its official document of Internship Entitlements. In addition, our team has together established a Gender Equality Action Plan, which commits to driving the cultural drift, providing both female and male children the same exposure and opportunities in STEM education. This is accomplished by extending our educational programs to groups of underprivileged children across the world and promoting our leadership positions to global passionate students of all genders.

Last but not least, Sciencious Journal Team has created two biannual magazines on the themes of Women in STEM and Black Lives in STEM, to highlight the importance of diversity in STEM. This had been completed by encouraging our board of authors and subscribers to research and write articles about significant figures in minority groups that contributed to the growth of STEM fields. In the upcoming month, Sciencious Journal Team is planning to create Magazine Issue 4 on the theme of 'Indigenous People in STEM' by featuring all articles that highlight the Indigenous scientists across the globe and their contribution towards STEM fields. 

Magazines: https://sciencious.com/magazin...

Sciencious' Internship Entitlements and Gender Equality Action Plan (found at the bottom of the page): https://sciencious.com/about/

Through my research, it has been shown that the absence of full STEM integration in classrooms, rooms for exploration and practices, and leadership opportunities have driven Sciencious to expand its services to disadvantaged students in the nation and beyond. Other than promoting opportunities to grow in leadership abilities, our educational syllabuses target low-income students studying in schools that lack adequate STEM facilities and practices in classrooms. Hence, our team offers a diverse range of platforms where STEM knowledge and skills can be shared, including Sciencious Journal where students can publish their own writing, podcast where students can listen to inspiring research and experience of global experts, and tutoring program where students can register to free STEM lessons from our dedicated tutors. In order to reach these services to our target audience, Sciencious members, who reside in regions and countries where the recorded population of low-income students are high, are responsible for delivering our resources to their communities through active outreach on the interest and collaborations with local schools and organizations. 

Sciencious is planning to accelerate fundraising events across all 30 chapters, three websites, and members’ personal social media accounts to raise money for its future projects. In addition, Sciencious aims to collaborate with other organizations on long-term projects to share the funds needed to operate. Last but not least, our team will continue to apply for grants and awards in order to fund the manufacturing of physical STEM kits, which will be distributed to students in need. 

In order to fund our competitions, research programs, and virtual websites, our outreach team has been seeking partnerships with other NGOs, philanthropic organizations, and companies to obtain money and coupons to purchase STEM books as prizes for winners and outstanding participants. For example, Sciencious has obtained 515 USD from Crimson Youth Fund and four 25 USD coupons from Arts of Problem Solving (AoPS) as awards for the winners of 2021 International STEM Writing Competition. Furthermore, Sciencious has also been applying for awards and grants to obtain funds for the maintenance of its three websites and one podcast account, including the Diana Award, Teen in Business Award, Leadership HQ Student Leader, 7News Q Create Change Award, National Real Estate Leadership Award, and more.