In a world where STEM is present everywhere, it is crucial that all youth are given the knowledge and resources to navigate it. STEMFuture is an initiative whose core mission is to equip all youth with essential STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) and computer skills. STEMFuture’s curriculum and content is focused around the following four core values:

  • INNOVATION – Teaching students about inspiring cutting-edge STEM topics and how they are being used to create positive, real world impact
  • eSAFETY – Teaching students how to stay safe in the rapidly growing tech world
  • DIVERSITY – Making the STEM field diverse because STEM is for everyone
  • IMPACT – Using STEM to make the world a better place

It is clear that STEM is the field of the future, so we must focus on equipping the future generation – the youth – with interesting and engaging STEM education. We are here to do just that through a number of different ways.

Innovation

Our online Innovation curriculum introduces to youth cutting-edge technology topics (such as big data and AI) and how they are being used to make the world a better place. Our founder Shuba Prasadh was inspired to add this unique curriculum because as a passionate STEM lover herself, she became frustrated when she kept hearing students in her STEM classes say things like “this is so boring” and “how am I going to use this in real life?”. She understood that the way schools teach STEM can be pedagogical, leaving students to think that STEM is somewhat boring and not applicable in the real world. She also saw that there were barely any resources out there explaining the newest STEM topics at a youth level. So she wanted to create a curriculum that shows youth just how innovative and inspiring STEM is. Thus, Innovation came about. Each topic in the Innovation curriculum includes a detailed informational article about a cutting-edge STEM topic (covers what it is, how it is being used to solve problems in the world, a brief overview of how it works, and a “buzzword” vocab list with definitions), several additional resources for those who are interested in learning more about the topic, and a mini assessment to help reinforce the concepts learned. Shuba hopes that Innovation will show students that STEM is absolutely not boring: it is innovative, inspiring, and impactful.

eSafety + Cybersecurity

STEMFuture’s eSafety curriculum is in the form of a physical workshop. We offer a unique and engaging Cybersecurity and eSafety workshop. We carefully developed the curriculum for this workshop to cover a wide range of topics, from malware to the Internet of Things to avoiding phishing scams. The workshop is 1 hour long and it was designed so that students and participants can walk away after that 1 hour equipped with skills that they could employ immediately in their daily lives. We have a detailed and interesting informational presentation (which Shuba would present) and several interactive activities following it (to help effectively reinforce recently learned concepts). If you are interested in having us host a workshop and in getting access to this curriculum, please contact us through our “contact” page.

Diversity

Although STEMFuture believes that STEM education is for everyone, in order to help diversify the field, we try and focus our outreach to underrepresented groups in STEM, such as women. We love empowering underrepresented groups in STEM to reach their full potential within this wonderful field. Oftentimes, that starts with the first outreach experience they are given. We try to create that immersive and engaging experience for these groups through our workshops. While all of our workshops are open to everyone upon request, we love reaching out to underrepresented groups and hosting some sessions specifically for them. For example, we held an all girls workshop at a local Girls Who Code club. We hope that through our efforts, the field of STEM will progress to be more diverse, and therefore stronger, for the future.

Impact: improving the future and our world

STEMFuture’s entire curriculum is designed not only to help spread STEM education and interest, but also instill a question within our students’ minds: “how can I use my STEM knowledge to make the world a better place”? This is demonstrated within our Innovation curriculum, within the detailed “impact” section of each article – explaining how that technology is being used to improve the world in a number of different ways. This is also demonstrated through our workshop content: although our computer science workshop does focus on logic and programming, we also devote a lot of it to explaining why computer science is so much more than just code; it is a way to change the world. Overall, STEMFuture’s mission is so much more than just spreading STEM education, it is about building an innovative, safe, diverse, and impactful future of STEM. That’s the ultimate goal, dream, and mission – and we are working to make it happen.