Uplift Jamaican Schoolchildren Through Science

SOSAvember STEPS was an “en-lightning” experience! 169 primary and secondary students located across Kingston Jamaica, learned about how natural disasters develop worldwide, and most importantly, how they might be mitigated with the use of technologies available and the skills of individuals employed in a career in STEM.

Closer to home, our breakout activities focused on hurricane detection, preparedness, mitigation and recovery, as the Caribbean is threatened by hurricanes every year. Our students experienced what it would be like to be a civil engineer and design cities that are better equipped to manage such threats. Students were also able to prepare a hurricane evacuation plan.

We wrapped up the day's events discussing how artificial intelligence is used to track hurricanes and give accurate predictions on their intensities and path. Students were intrigued with our final activity that focused on current AI technology, machine learning, and designing their own mock artificial intelligence machine.

Overall, our students learnt about the use of technology to study weather patterns, how engineers prepare infrastructure to withstand natural disasters, and how artificial intelligence plays a critical role in tracking and predicting these occurrences. 

We thoroughly enjoyed teaching our STEPS students this past November, and it seems they had lots of fun too. Here are a few comments from our participants:

“It made me care more about the environment and how things need to be fixed” – Primary school student

“It helped me to know that there is more to science than just bones and chemicals” – Primary school student

“The event influenced me, not sure about others, but it definitely had a huge impact on the way I think about STEM careers now. Stem careers is any job in the fields of science, technology, engineering or math. With a foundation in these subjects, a STEM career allows you to solve problems, develop new ideas and conduct research. Advanced science, technology, engineering or math knowledge. These careers have had a huge impact on our economy and society.” – High school student

Under the theme 'Demystifying Vaccines', we hosted primary and secondary school students in some virtual STEM fun! We explored the world of vaccines, a hotly debated topic currently... 

How do Coding and Lab Grown Meat go together?

In a workshop designed to introduce cutting-edge technology, where we focus on innovation and environmental health – our students bring us back down to earth…

What topic are they most enthralled with? Cow farts!!

We harness their enthusiasm – after all, cows produce methane, which over time impacts climate change. So, the topic that intrigued our young audience could be the basis of a sustainable solution to our climate issue!

 We combine subject areas – computer science, biology, and engineering. Students were introduced to computer coding to simulate their very own lab grown meat! First, they generated code to create growth medium in a virtual environment. This became the ideal environment to “grow” their own laboratory derived meat. Next, Step by step, they coded “meat berries”.

The end result – “meat grown in a virtual lab!!” – as our students exclaimed. Using this multi-dimensional learning approach, we facilitated lively discussions on how lab-grown meat could positively influence the climate and the environment. We touched on topics ranging from how traditionally grown meat may be contaminated with bacteria after being slaughtered, and lab grown meat could avoid this bacterial contamination. We also discussed the potential for lab grown meat to provide more control over nutritional content, which became a strong topic for debate amongst the young minds.

Our participants thoroughly enjoyed the coding activity, many counting it as the activity they enjoyed most for the day. We were able to reignite one student’s passion for coding as they commented on that aspect as their favorite activity, “I loved coding but I forgot about it until they (the facilitators) were talking about it”.

Other students enjoyed learning about coding and its utility based on one of their future goals – to create an app. Another student’s feedback reassured us that we accomplished our mission when he said that the day’s activities influenced him to do more research into the world climate clock and what technology can do to help.

SOSA is dedicated to keeping all young students abreast of the advancement of technology in our world and how it may impact us. We appreciate your continued support in this venture!

Given the realities of the pandemic, STEPS went virtual this year! We maintained our hands-on approach for our 150+ students! Our theme this year, “Do good for yourself, do good for the world”, had an overarching focus on climate change. Original videos and interactive games were created to engage students with concepts such as how agriculture, nutrition and technology can be utilized to improve the climate crisis by improving time on the climate clock.

Students learnt about modern inventions aimed at improving farming practices and how limiting the use of pesticides can decrease the run-off into neighbourhood water sources. They were also eager to learn how to be more eco-friendly and the importance of managing their food waste. Overall, they were excited to learn about the links between technology and agriculture processes that could either benefit or harm the environment.

Our participants found the sessions informative and interesting. They loved how interactive the sessions were, with over 90% giving a score of 8 out of 10 for how much fun they had! The students also left comments describing their STEPS experience, such as “This is a dream come true” and “I used to think STEM was boring, but now I think it is extremely fun”. One repeat participant said “This is even better than the first time I came to a STEPS workshop”, which perfectly reflects SOSA’s commitment to continuously improve the value of the program. Many students are in anticipation of their next invitation.

SOSA is definitely reaching its goal of creating ambassadors for STEM, as one student was sure to let us know “I am now considering to be a scientist and help the world”. It is exciting to see the impact of our program given the pandemic and we are happy to announce that we have more virtual programming coming up very soon!

Thank you for enabling us to continue to reach these students! Look out for more to come!!

The world is in the middle of a pandemic and we are all adjusting to a new normal. This is no different at SOSA, where we have had to be nimble to quickly pivot and adjust to keep our programmes running and our youth engaged.

The result of this was STEPS Online 2020 where we took our summer programmes virtual. Our first event was hosted on June 22 and 23, 2020 and was a resounding success!

The workshop focused on Computer Science (Learning to Code), Virology, and Epidemiology - a very timely component as the world watches as scientists track the development and spread of the novel coronavirus, COVID-19.

Participants loved the workshops with almost 70% ranking the 2 days at an 8 and above on a 10-point scale for fun factor. As for the impact of the workshop, this participant summed it up nicely, “I did not know that R was a programming language, I had no idea what bioinformatics was about, and I also had never heard about Scratch as a programming language.”

In July, we hosted another 2-day workshop covering non-communicable diseases such as cancer and heart disease, and engineering, including 3D printing and aerospace engineering. Students joined us for a mixture of presentations and hands-on learning guided by specialist speakers. This event saw SOSA expanding its reach all across Jamaica.

Once again, participants found the sessions to be fun and a majority (86%) indicated that their interest in science was an 8 and above on a 10-point scale at the end of the workshop. This represents a whopping 68% increase in the interest level prior to the beginning of the workshop!

Comments from our participant included:

“I have an increased urge of wanting to be a scientist.”

“I wasn't sure what career and educational path I wanted to pursue but [now] I know about a lot of different careers in STEM which I could pursue.”

Go team SOSA, job well done!