The USA Science and Engineering Festival NGSS lesson plan writers are educators making an impact in STEM around the world! Not only are their X-STEM All Access NGSS lesson plans accessed around the world, but they are also directly involved in STEM outreach in countries like India and Zambia! Read more about their work in these countries below.

Jess Noffsinger recently spent 18 days touring India as part of the Fulbright Teacher’s for Global Classroom Program. During her adventure, Jess visited both cultural sites and schools to learn more about Indian culture and the education system. Favorite stops included the Taj Mahal, the first-ever Delhi Robotics League Competition, and participating in the Bonalu Festival in Hyderabad, Telangana. During her visit, Mrs. Noffsinger taught courses in American Culture and Engineering problem-solving to high school students at Government Nehru Memorial High School. She also led a professional learning session for teachers on utilizing technology in the classroom.

“Education in India is driven by the goal to prepare students for the STEM jobs of the future,” explains Noffsinger. “Students are being exposed to a variety of STEM courses including mechatronics, robotics, coding, and more. When asked, students' most popular dream jobs included IT and engineering.” Although technology infrastructure was not fully developed, students received instruction daily to build skills to help these dreams become a reality. As she returns to her middle school classroom in Colorado, Noffsinger plans to work collaboratively with her students and the students she taught in India to complete a robotics project focused on the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Stacy Douglas partnered with the Zambian Women Institute for Learning and Leadership (ZAMWILL), an organization implementing the Girls Hackathon Project for girls ages 13-20 from 10 selected secondary schools in the Copperbelt Province of Zambia. The project aims to equip the girls with knowledge, skills, and tools to enable them to solve issues affecting them, their families, and the community. "This is my passion project. In addition to designing the training program and the conference, I am recruiting and training the mentors, managing and mentoring our college interns, and designing the curriculum for the accelerator program," says Douglas.

The project uses a human-centered approach and a positive youth development framework where the participants are recognized as solutions' custodians and put at the center of problem-solving. This instills innovation and active citizenship among the project participants and allows them to own the problem, the process, and the solutions which aid in making the project results sustainable. The project further creates a platform for young girls to have access to mentors, sponsors, accelerators, and incubators. Within the context of all these players, the participating girls will benefit from the co-creation experience resulting in the building of trust and shaping new connections that cross borders between people, organizations, and sectors in society. 

In January ZAMWILL hosted the ten schools at the US Embassy America Corner on The Copperbelt University (CBU) campus. Each school nominated two student leaders and a STEM educator to attend the 2-day conference. In their school teams, the girls participated in a design challenge where they were given a problem to solve and 15 minutes to create a solution and build a prototype before presenting; giving us the opportunity to hear directly from the girls how they perceived the issues facing their community and their proposed solutions. "I really was impressed. We all were! The creativity the girls expressed in just 15 minutes, WOW! Their solutions to these problems that impact their communities were incredible." -Patricia Mubiana, Ndola Girls ICT Teacher. Each student leader returned to their home school and selected a team of 10 girls who would identify and create an SDG solution to a problem facing their community to pitch at the hackathon. In the meantime, students are communicating with specialists and mentors working on their solutions, pitch, and implementation strategy.