A Clear View
Four women. One city. Four days. One mysterious educational odyssey into science. At least that's how I summed it up as I looked out the window of my Delta airlines flight drinking in aerial views of the Grand Canyon and Yosemite National Park way down below. In 35 minutes I and my colleague Deanya Knowles would arrive in San Francisco to place another piece of the puzzle in place. The end game: our StemTastic project. My other colleagues Marleni Cuellar and Courtney Weatherburne – media professionals from Belize – were scheduled to join us four hours later. I was reminded of the distinctive impressions of Yosemite as I stared at the image of an animal gene on a ppt slide the next day at the 10th World Conference of Science Journalists (WCSJ) . Primal. Perfect. Undeniable. Like Yosemite and the gene – the code of life – we were seeking to make an enduring impact, an impression that could not, and would not be denied.
Planting the Seed
Almost one year ago our Caribbean quartet made history by winning the region’s first Mediathon that Compete Caribbean, a private sector development programme, hosted. The challenge? Produce a media-based concept to help drive science, technology and innovation in the Caribbean. With just seven hours to conceptualize, hone and drill down our idea into a four minute pitch we convinced the international judging panel why So You Wanna Be StemTastic deserved to win.
The Caribbean can no longer afford to ignore the low rate at which its nationals are participating in the Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) sector either by entering careers or pursuing entrepreneurial opportunities in this field.
In its measurement of the quality of math and science education in 144 countries, the Global Competitiveness Index 2014-2015, ranked Barbados the highest in the Western Hemisphere at 7th (see figure 1). Other Caribbean countries seemed to barely keep pace with quality STEM education: Trinidad and Tobago ranked 35th, Guyana ranked 55th, Suriname ranked 89th, Jamaica ranked 101st, and Haiti ranked 124th.
Our StemTastic proposal aims to use traditional and new media to motivate adolescents to aspire to STEM careers. It is envisioned as a whimsical book series for 8-11 year-olds using the Augmented Reality (AR) technology. We plan to feature STEM icons with Caribbean roots in the vast array of professions. Their stories would come to life off the page when their image is scanned with a mobile device much like the technology that has made Pokemon Go so popular. Imagine a nine-year-old girl in a classroom in Belmopan flipping through the pages, using a cell phone or tablet and being inspired to be an aeronautical engineer or actuary? Imagine the impact if that scenario were multiplied throughout the Caribbean region?
Deeply Rooted
Over the course of the last year, the team has been mentored by the global innovation consultancy firm OPINNO to help advance our research, concept development and ultimate implementation plan. That was one of the prizes for the winning team. Getting a subvention to attend a conference to help us solidify our proposal was the other. Data is being collected to inform our strategies and contacts are being made to move us forward. There remains much work to do to turn our idea into something that serves underrepresented groups in STEM like women and Caribbean nationals.
What does an international federation of science journalists have to do with our idea? Approximately 1,360 participants from more than 70 countries converged on San Francisco for the WCSJ – Belize and The Bahamas were among them. More than a theme for the conference, “Bridging Science & Societies” seemed a perfect mission around which to mobilize our collective will and capacities.
Thought-provoking presentations on Thursday 26th October like human gene editing, the global climate change conundrum, and emerging infectious diseases helped to set the tone for what was to be expected. But perhaps the most beneficial element of Thursday’s sessions at the Marriott Marquis were the coffee table chats, the exhibition hall exchanges and the in-between session conversations that allowed for a diverse group of attendees to exchange ideas about how to expand the capacity for science communication on a global level.
Putting Character Into Science – the Power of Profiles offered insights into the factors that drive the writing process for profiles on newsmakers in science. Learning about the best approaches to take for storytelling was both timely and relevant.
Searching for, creating and presenting those compelling narratives that stretch across the Caribbean region is a cardinal objective motivating the efforts of our StemTastic Team. Presenting these stories of greatness could serve as the bridge to creating a brighter future where Caribbean nationals, and women in particular, are no longer largely on the periphery as the world changes and innovations occur but are on the front lines.