Sustainable Development Goal: Quality Education

The Sustainable Development Goal Fund (SGD Fund) partners with 16 United Nations agencies, governments, donors, businesses and civil societies in order to help the world reach 2030 development goals.

Their goals include:

No Poverty
Zero Hunger
Good Health and Wellbeing
Quality Education
Gender and Equality
Clean Water and Sanitation
Affordable and Clean Energy
Decent Work and Economic Growth
Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
Reduced Inequalities
Sustainable Cities and Communities
Responsible Consumption and Production
Climate Action
Life Below Water
Life on Land
Peach, Justice and Strong Institutions
Partnership for the Goals

These goals range on a variety of topics; but, they all have one thing in common – bettering the world and people’s quality of life by 2030. STEM Sports® aligns with the SGD Fund’s Quality Education goal.

The quality education goal is broken down into different targets of the goal that need to be met. These targets include:

Target 4.1: Free Primary and Secondary Education
Target 4.2: Equal Access to Quality Pre-Primary Education
Target 4.3: Equal Access to Affordable Technical, Vocational and Higher Education
Target 4.4: Increase the Number of People with Relevant Skills for Financial Success
Target 4.5: Eliminare All Descrimination in Education
Target 4.6: Universal Literacy and Numeracy
Target 4.7: Education For Sustainable Development and Global Citizenship
Target 4.A: Build and Upgrade Inclusive and Safe Schools
Target 4.B: Expand Higher Education Scholarships For Developing Countries
Target 4.C: Increase the Supply of Qualified Teachers in Developing Countries

As an education company, STEM Sports® takes pride in our efforts to improve education for students around the world. Despite experience, wealth or other factors, the Global Goals for Sustainable Development has ways that you can take action to help these goals be met by the 2030 deadline!

The Sustainable Development Goal Fund states, “This goal (quality education) ensures that all girls and boys complete free primary and secondary schooling by 2030. It also aims to provide equal access to affordable vocational training, and to eliminate gender and wealth disparities with the aim of achieving universal access to a quality higher education.”

During the Beyond Sports 10RoundTables program, one of the panels focused on how sports can be used to push people to improve their STEM skills and, in turn, receive more opportunities. The roundtable was hosted by the Los Angeles Dodgers Foundation and talked about challenges, possible solutions and how educators can help in the race for equal, quality education.

STEM Sports® President and CEO Jeff Golner was one of the roundtable attendees and was there to further the companies involvement in reaching the 2030 education goal. One of the common challenges is access to real life mentors, experiences and career pathways. Our Volume 2 teacher manuals include possible job opportunities that correspond with the skills students are learning in each lesson.

One of the brainstorm points that was addressed during the roundtable was, “using sport to hook participants and integrate skill-based learning opportunities into the programs.” STEM Sports® has acknowledged this idea and the possibility it presents for using sports as a vehicle to teaching STEM.

At STEM Sports®, our mission is to provide quality science, technology, engineering and math curriculum to each student and turn them into active learners. Our kits use the combination of STEM and sport to introduce our curriculum to students in a way that gives them real life examples and allows them to learn through doing rather than seeing.

By using our turnkey STEM kits, we give every type of learner the chance to improve their STEM literacy. This curriculum caters to the student that may not like STEM, but loves sports. It also presents a unique challenge to left-brain learners by making them tap into their creative side during the hands-on lessons. The curricula gives each student the chance to learn about the science behind the sport and, hopefully, peak their interest in further exploring STEM during the process.

As a company, we believe that we are part of the group pushing quality education in both the United States and internationally. In March 2019, we partnered with HandsOn Mexico to implement our curriculum in Mexico City. Jeff Golner, traveled to Mexico and joined local American Express employee volunteers to aid 160 students in working through lessons from our STEM Basketball, STEM Football, STEM Soccer and STEM Volleyball curricula.

“It was an outstanding event. The debate now is who was rewarded the most: the Club’s youth members or the volunteers from American Express,” said Golner.

We are also going to be expanding our reach by working with Morocco and Japan in the near future; STEM Sports® is excited about the possibility of expanding outside of North America. Through our partnerships in both Morocco and Japan, we will be able to reach more children with a variety of different educational and economic backgrounds. Our goal is to give each of them the chance to further their science, technology, engineering and math skills and see the different STEM career paths that are or are going to be available in sports.

With 2020 halfway over, it is important that every educator take responsibility for doing their part in reaching the 2030 quality education goal. Every student deserves the opportunity to receive an education that will prepare them to excel in the future workforce. It is essential for not only them but also the future prosperity of the world.

During the Beyond Sport Roundtable, attendees talked about lifting up all teachers and the role they can play in the STEM education process. By doing this, we are just further expanding where and when our students can continue their educational experience. At STEM Sports® we focus on how intuitive it is to teach each of our modules. We promote the idea that a student can teach the lessons with teachers there just for guidance. This gives students the opportunity to learn leadership skills. It also allows them to learn through a trial-and-error approach that is common in the real world and future job situations.

It is becoming increasingly important to educate students on STEM concepts. Capital One Financial Corp and Burning Glass Technologies found that almost all jobs now have digital proficiency as a requirement. It is also becoming more common that non-STEM jobs are requiring their workers to have STEM skills. That is why, as a company, STEM Sports® is attempting to give every student the chance to further their knowledge and love for STEM concepts starting at the primary school level.

Whether you are an educator or a parent, you can join the Sustainable Development Goal Fund in reaching the 2030 goals.

Lauren Chiangpradit