Project Mentor: Professor Eric Obeysekare, Computer Science & Engineering
2024 Impact Fellows:
Faatiha Kalam '27
Asha Marwaha '27
Angelina Penza '26
Omar Hossain '25
Angelina Patel '27
Project Description:
What does the education of the future look like in the world's most populous country?
The Agastya International Foundation is dedicated to igniting curiosity (Aah!), fostering creativity (Aha!), and building confidence (Ha-Ha!) through hands-on experiential learning for underprivileged children and government school teachers. With its transformative programs, Agastya has empowered over 300,000 K-12 teachers and inspired 25 million children. As part of its mission to democratize science education, Agastya operates more than 200 Mobile Science Labs (MSLs) and 75 Labs-on-a-Bike, bringing practical STEAM experiences to students in remote areas, sparking curiosity, creativity, and problem-solving.
In 2024, the Future Makers Unlimited project aims to expand Agastya’s educational outreach by integrating design thinking and making into its MSL programs. The project will redesign the curriculum to emphasize hands-on innovation and experiential learning while equipping Agastya’s facilitators with the skills to deliver this content effectively.
The project will focus on four core objectives:
1. Reimagining the Design Thinking Curriculum: This initiative will revitalize Agastya’s design thinking curriculum to reflect modern, learner-centered approaches. With an emphasis on creativity, problem-solving, and making, the curriculum will be crafted to inspire innovation and adaptability, preparing students to tackle real-world challenges with practical solutions.
2. Empowering Facilitators through 'Train the Trainer' Programs: A comprehensive "train the trainer" initiative will ensure Agastya’s facilitators can effectively teach the new curriculum. This program will equip them with context-appropriate methodologies in design thinking and making, fostering scalability and sustainability.
3. Enhancing Mobile Science Labs with New Content: In addition to hands-on science experiments, the MSLs will integrate modules on design thinking and making. Students will engage in projects that encourage them to design, prototype, and build solutions to everyday problems, blending scientific inquiry with innovation.
4. National Innovation Fair Showcasing Student Creativity: The project will culminate in a nationwide innovation fair, providing students with a platform to showcase their creative solutions. The fair will highlight projects that address pressing social challenges—ranging from healthcare access to sustainable living and environmental protection—promoting empathy-driven, socially responsible innovation.
Through these efforts, the project seeks to push the boundaries of how science and design thinking are taught, ensuring that students not only learn scientific concepts but also develop the skills needed to innovate and create solutions for real-world problems. By integrating these approaches into MSLs, the project will make a lasting impact on science education for underprivileged children across India, inspiring a new generation of makers, thinkers, and tinkerers!
The following short films and articles in the Stanford Social Innovation Review, the Times of India, and Yourstory might be of interest to you:
