We’re the STEM team in Kyuedup. STEM means Science Technology Engineering and Maths, and is recognized as a major contributor to economic growth and development. In the last weeks, we talked to a lot of local parents, children and teachers. Everyone was concerned about STEM education achievement here. Concerns were lack of career paths, and a perception that science was hard and only for elite clever people. We want to change that. Our idea is to create a Kid’s Science Centre at OIST, with 3 goals – fun, engagement and real research. We propose a spectacular fun facility which gets kids excited; we propose a workspace area to run long-term science education projects and competitions; and we propose daily interaction with OIST labs and staff by having the facility by the campus. This can be privately-funded and commercially viable, adding to Okinawa’s tourist infrastructure, creating jobs, while all the way igniting a passion for science and technology, and we hope…planting the seeds for the technology entrepreneurs of tomorrow.

1. Kyued up – Prototyping
STEM education
Prototype 1: Science activity centre

2. Kyuedup
http://pullapproach.com/#WHATIS

3. Design thinking
methodology
Identify a problem or opportunity for improvement
E – Empathize, engage with real people, observe
D – Define the problem
I – Ideate, identify possible solutions
P - Prototype
T - Test

4. What is STEM?
Science
Technology
Engineering
Mathematics

5. The topic…
Okinawa is a significant
outlier in STEM educational
achievement, compared to
other prefectures.
Everyone we spoke too
was concerned about this.
Data provided by junior
high school teacher during
interview (Feb 2014)

6. Problem statement
Who: Children in Okinawa
What: Achieve higher performance in STEM
educational assessments
Why: STEM is seen as a key contributor to economic
and social development

7. Feedback (as told by real teachers,
parents & students)
“Scientists are extremely clever, I could never do that”
“If I study science, it’s not clear what job I can get”
“I don’t really know what scientists do”
“Education achievement can’t be de-coupled from
other factors (e.g. high divorce rate)”
“Children are too busy, suffer from fatigue”
“Cultural differences…More relaxed attitude, less competitiveness,
aggression, drive”
“There are few
science or hi-tech
jobs in Okinawa”

8. The idea – Science
Activity Centre
“Fun” “Projects
workspace”
“Real daily
science &
scientists”

9. The idea
Science activity centre
A) “Wonder museum”, short-
term visitors, tourist attraction
=> Get people hooked
=> Funding
B) STEM workspaces &
education zones; repeat visitors
=> Education & development
C) Exposure to working
researchers & running labs
=> Juxtapose with OIST
=> Demystify science daily work

10. Tourist attraction

11. Workspace ideas…
Maker culture
Biodiversity
RoboticsClean energy
Coding

12. A working lab on display?

13. Keywords
Spectacular Tourist
attraction
Short visits
Expensive (day-
ticket)
Supervised childcare
Restaurant
Gift shop
Commercially viable
Playground
Cheap for repeat visitors
(annual pass)
Repeat visitors
Local kids, schools,
parents, universities,
OIST
Careers advice
Robotics, Energy,
Programming,
Ecology, …
Juxtapose with working
labs
On campus/glass
wall/goldfish
bowl/mezzanine
See real work, not
contrived mock-ups
“Projects
workspace”“Fun”
“Juxtapose
with daily
work”
Engagement
Staff jobs
Student part-time jobs
Demystify, make it
seem attainable
Mock student
start-up
company
Science
competitions
Classes

14. Overlap with other
Kyuedup teams & topics
IT
skills/programming
Tourist attractions
& infrastructure
Linking
communities in
Okinawa
Improved English
skills
Free municipal Wifi
Lift STEM interest &
achievement

15. Existing facilities (1)
Chura Umi, Ocean Expo park
Visit, 9.3.2014
Objective – Observe…
What is available for hands-on experiments/project
work?
How many tourists?
How many kids?

16. Hands on experiments?
Extremely beautiful & informative displays, but not much in terms of
hands-on or project work

17. Tourists? Children?
わ
- Early March, but still
plenty of visitors
- Counted 1 row of
cars, 90% were
rentals (presumably
tourists)
- Lots of kids; seemed
to be a high
proportion of very
small kids (<2 years
old)

18. Existing facilities (2)
Wonder Museum, Kodomo no Kuni, Okinawa city
Visit scheduled, 20.3.2014
Me