The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are 17 goals that function as "a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future." For the past few months, I have been ideating and developing an initiative to educate middle school students about the SDGs through a STEM-integrated social studies curriculum. In this curriculum, the SDGs function more as guiding principles for the students’ learning about global problems, and not as syllabus points that students must memorize. This curriculum can be used in schools or in after-school programs and can be adapted to the needs of each system.

Below is the proposed learning structure for each goal:

Day 1 - Students will be introduced to a story related to the goal and will have group reflection time to develop personal connections with their learning. 

Day 2 - Students will be introduced to one problem and its specific solution regarding the goal. 

Day 3 - Students will lead a discussion of the main issue under the goal and share their perspectives on it with each other, using provided discussion points. 

Day 4 - Students will learn of a case study that illustrates the extent of the problem and that has demonstrated an equitable solution. 

Day 5 - Students will write about a particular aspect of the goal that interested them, either as fiction or nonfiction pieces. 

Day 6 - Students will read and reflect on a research extract about the goal. 

Day 7 - Students will learn about a situation from a government/industry leader's life concerning decisions about the goal. They will then suggest the decision they would have made in the situation. 

Day 8 - Students will conduct research and develop an action plan for their team project that attempts to solve one aspect of the problem the goal addresses. 

Day 9 - Students will prototype their team project. 

Day 10 - Students will present their team projects for the goal.

Apart from these daily activities, below will be some of the program's priorities on a long-term basis. These are mainly oriented towards the environmental aspects of the SDGs:

1. Through hands-on experiments, workshops, and guest lectures from experts in environmental science, engineering, and technology fields, students will deepen their understanding of the principles underlying environmental challenges. They will also learn about sustainable practices and the interconnections between STEM and environmental issues. Students will participate in workshops focused on developing skills crucial for environmental careers, such as data analysis, climate modeling, sustainable design, and community engagement.

2. Students will be encouraged to take ownership of their projects and solutions, by conducting research, seeking mentorship, and actively collaborating with community stakeholders to implement their ideas.

3. Students will collaborate to design and implement creative projects aimed at tackling environmental issues in their school or community. Emphasis will be placed on brainstorming, prototyping, and encouraging out-of-the-box thinking.

4. The project will host an annual fair where students showcase their innovative ideas, prototypes, or projects related to sustainability and the SDGs. Invite parents, teachers, and community members to learn about the students' initiatives.

5. Field research trips will be organized to nearby ecosystems or communities to study and document local environmental and social challenges related to the SDGs. Students can collect data, conduct interviews, and propose solutions.

6. Students will conduct impact assessments of local projects or initiatives to determine their effectiveness.

I have piloted this project in a school with 200+ middle school students and have seen encouraging results. I hope to expand this idea further such that more students can benefit from action-based learning, and through this, I hope that we can collectively usher in a more sustainable future.

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