In the 2003 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) science assessment, the average score of students from the Philippines ranked consistently among the five lowest. Philippine eighth graders ranked 43rd out of 46 participating countries with an average score of 377 (the international average is 474), and Philippine fourth graders ranked 24th out of 25 participating countries with an average score of 332 (the international average is 489). From these statistics, it can be ascertained that when it comes to the subject of science, the typical Philippine student either does not have a proper understanding of scientific concepts or the topic simply does not interest them. This is potentially detrimental to the developing Southeast Asian nation, as in the information age of today, science has become an increasingly important subject for the average person to learn in order to be able to understand the complexities of the modern world.

While the TIMSS was conducted ten years ago and so is not an entirely accurate representation of a typical Philippine student today, recent evidence shows that the situation will likely not considerably improve for a long time. According to data from the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Philippines had 7,500 researchers in 2009, while the significantly less populous country of Singapore had 28,000 the Philippines? population ranks as the 12th largest in the world and Singapore?s ranks as the 116th largest. This serves as a rough indicator as to how many Filipinos end up pursuing a science-related career as opposed to other countries. Furthermore, in a decision that the Agham-Advocates of Science and Technology for the People described as ?worrisome,? the Department of Education (DepEd) revamped the Philippine public school curriculum in 2012, so that science will not be taught until the third grade in a child?s 12 years of schooling, doing nothing to improve competency in science. Adding on to the fact that the Philippine government invests little in the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), it is apparent that the Philippine curriculum places too little emphasis on science.

To stir the students? passion for science, the Mind Movers have researched on the most effective way to captivate the students? interest. The Mind Movers team has conducted a preliminary survey with a group of 60 local students and the results showed that the local students most enjoyed the interactive and visual type of learning.

The Mind Movers Project was conceived this year by Scott Platt-Salcedo and his students. Alarmed by the deteriorating quality of science education in the Philippines especially in urban areas of Manila due to lack of teachers, facilities and laboratory as well as the lack of interest in science by the current generation, the project, headed by teenagers and secondary school students, aimed to act upon the degenerating quality of science instruction and science learning acquisition in the country and aspired to provide solutions to these problems.

Leaders of the project, all in their teens, convened a team mainly composed of students who excel in science subjects in their respective schools. With a deep understanding of their own process of learning and are extremely aware of the skills, behaviour and attitude which characterize their generation, the team took upon the task as a challenge and began to plan for the implementation of the project.

The team was tasked to work with elementary school children in public school whose ages range from 9 - 12 years old and whose level of scientific knowledge varies. Volunteers for the Mind Movers team are mainly English speakers composed of different nationalities and ethnic background namely Koreans, Chinese, Filipinos and Europeans who attend public and private international schools. The team had to decide as to the type of project or activities to implement, raise funds and look for resources and effectively allocate them. They must also devise instructional schemes that are not only engaging but also effective in enhancing knowledge and learning acquisition.

This projects aims to provide fun and thought-provoking activities that will make science popular and interesting to children focusing on science experiments that will create lasting impressions on the minds of children and individuals. We currently visit the Alabang Elementary School, Rogationist College, Papaya Academy, Bantay Bata Sa Komunidad, and other public schools every two weeks to conduct Mind Movers. The Evaluation of the project is reviewed at the end of each session when the Mind Movers team conducts a survey to the local kids without requiring them to write down their name. The team considers a session success when the local students enjoyed most of the activities and understood most of the content enough to perfect a short quiz  based on the sessions.