Our impact
Every child deserves access to quality STEAM education.
Why it matters
If you’re reading this, your school probably had access to lab apparatus, physics equipment and STEAM resources. If you were really lucky, you might even have had access to a robotics or computer lab.
The unfortunate reality is that STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) programmes are too expensive and complex to implement in most schools. This often means that schools give up on running STEAM programmes and stick to traditional pen and paper learning.
How we help
We work with impact partners and funders to bring our low-cost STEAM kits wherever they are needed.
Because our challenges are self-guided, volunteers don’t have to be there for them to happen. Kids decide when and where they want to run a challenge. In the long term, this helps our partners avoid the “touch and go” trap that many social impact projects fall into.
Through CSR funding from Google, we ran community sessions with the 3Pumpkins community for 19 weeks. Within just a few sessions, there was a noticeable difference in the children’s emotional regulation, patience and ability to work with others. Some children went on to become “Builder Buddies”, mentoring others and organising their own Stick ’Em sessions.
Case studies
In the stilt houses on Semporna’s shores live the unregistered descendants of refugees, without government support for basic needs. Borneo Komrads set up a school to teach the children the skills to survive and their rights as people. With access to the internet and electricity, their lives have the potential to change in one generation.
In the Mayuge district, 150 km from Uganda’s capital, STEAM is almost unheard of, and robotics and coding were distant ideas for the students of Musita COU Primary School. Our partner in Uganda is working to set up Eastern Uganda’s first robotics laboratory with Stick ’Em.
On the outskirts of Ho Chi Minh City, students from the local schools visit the Phong Thanh Community Library after school to play and meet their friends. Because it is where they gather, we introduced Stick ’Em there as a way for them to learn about robotics and technology through play.
On the Thailand–Myanmar border are two primary schools, Watrangsanaenakornjan School and Ban Tham Hin Border Patrol School. They cover the essentials of education but have little access to modern technology to engage their students. The students are extremely bright, and Stick ’Em gives them the tools to build.
Evidence
