STEAMBox

Building a decentralized access economy for STEAM education

1. What is the problem?

Jobs requiring STEAM skills are growing faster than any profession (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics). And these jobs aren't just limited to Silicon Valley; research studies show that STEAM will make a significant impact in regional labor markets across the globe, from those in Central/Eastern Europe to those in Africa and Asia (Gumtree). All these statistics boil down to a simple conclusion: the world needs more accessible and scalable STEAM education pipelines. 

However, there's a huge problem affecting STEAM education in libraries, schools, and community centers across the globe: a lack of access to materials that are needed to run these STEAM education workshops. Because of financial constraints and logistical difficulties, many STEAM classes and workshops in local communities cannot gain access to the hardware equipment (Arduinos, Raspberry Pis, etc;), computers, and other specialized technology that is necessary to run these educational initiatives. Thus, both teachers and students are impacted. 

2. What is the solution we are proposing?

STEAMBox is an online and mobile platform that enables the creation of an access economy for STEAM education materials. 

First popularized by companies such as Airbnb and Uber, an access economy involves goods and services that are exchanged based on a "shared access" model, instead of one based on permanent ownership. 

To this end, STEAMBox creates "bundles" of STEAM materials, including computers, electronics, other hardware, and software subscriptions which can be rented by STEM instructors to bring their curriculum and lesson plans to life. 

Prospective users can even submit their own ideas for a bundle to STEAMBox. Then, the STEAMBox team works to purchase the materials for the bundle, creates a rental plan, and makes it available to other STEAMBox users across the globe. This feature is particularly powerful, because it allows anyone, not just professional teachers in schools, to become a STEAM instructor for their local community

3. How will our solution change the world?

STEAMBox has the potential to enable ANYONE in the world, whether it's an experienced teacher or high school student, to organize and run a STEAM education workshop in their local communities. By serving as a global repository for technology hardware, electronics, and educational materials, STEAMBox can supply a decentralized network of STEAM educators, who now have the ability run almost any workshop imaginable. 

Access economies have been constructed in a variety of industries, like transportation (Uber) and real estate (Airbnb)

However, STEAMBox's model represents the first-ever attempt to build a shared economy for educational supplies, particularly those that are related to STEAM, like computers, Arduinos, electronic components, and other hardware. 

STEAMBox is also unique because it can serve as a marketplace for students and teachers to interact with people who want to rent out their STEAM materials. 

Consumer-facing software is particularly important for STEAMBox to succeed. This includes a cloud-based repository of all STEAMBox bundles and a mobile/web application that enables users to view existing bundles, reserve them, and suggest new ones. 

Over the next three months, we want to finalize our mobile application and deploy it to the App Store. 

Over the next six months, we want to expand our user network from ~200 students and ~20 teachers/librarians in New Jersey currently to 3,000 students and ~100 teachers/librarians across the United States and India. 

Over the next nine months, we want to partner with low-income school districts 

We’re gonna build a shared economy for educational supplies. We're currently focusing on STEAM supplies, like laptops, Arduinos, and Raspberry Pis, but we ultimately see a world where school supplies and even curricula are shared and rented on our platform. 

We also plan to scale our delivery infrastructure so we can deliver STEAMBox bundles internationally, enabling anyone to become a teacher. 

We also want to strengthen our donation and rental process. While we currently purchase most supplies, the ultimate goal is to build a platform where a hobbyist can donate/rent out his/her STEAM supplies for use by others.

Once a teacher (who can be a high school student or a professional teacher at a school) signs up to rent a STEAMBox bundle, we send it to them via Uber, Fedex, or UPS. Once they are done using the materials, they send it back to us via the same process. 

The communities we're targeting are currently: schoolteachers, amateur teachers like students who want to teach workshops, and hobbyists who need parts to build or learn projects. 

All these communities access STEAMBox bundles through our web platform and the actual shipping is done via mailing them. 

Currently, STEAMBox bundles are being used to teach over 100 students at local libraries and schools in New Jersey. 

Five high school students are using STEAMBox to supply materials for their local CS workshops, which are on topics like Java programming and facial recognition AI (which requires expensive equipment that we provide). 

Five libraries in New Jersey are also involved with pilot-testing STEAMBox, and in Fall 2018, we're planning to roll STEAMBox out to an additional ten libraries. 

In 12 months, we expect to be serving over 3,000 students and 100 teachers/librarians at schools and libraries across the United States and India. 

We will be serving these users by providing them with high-quality STEAM supplies that can be used to teach students a variety of STEAM skills. 

In 3 years, we want to reach 30,000 students (an average of 40 high schools) and over 500 teachers and librarians with our online platform. However, a lot of this depends on how popular STEAMBox becomes. We can serve a lot more consumers if this idea catches on. 

We have excellent software development skills, business development skills, and above all, teaching skills that help us to build the STEAMBox product, partner with other organizations, and implement the STEAMBox model. 

Our team includes Intel ISEF-winning researchers, Conrad Challenge grand prize winners, Scholastic Award-winning writers, and high school students with significant experience teaching computer science at local libraries. 

Our revenue model is based on teachers paying a rental fee for STEAMBox bundles. This rental fee depends on the location where the workshop is being held. A rural school in India will pay a lot less for a STEAMBox bundle than a high school in suburban New Jersey. 

In the long-term, our revenue model allows us to collect rental fees consistently, which can be used to purchase additional STEAM supplies. 

I'm applying to Solve because I'm a high school student and I think I have a pretty interesting edtech idea that would benefit from Solve resources. 

I'll admit, we're not as well developed as other solutions, but our core model is pretty unique and participating in Solve can bring us in contact with educational professionals that can advance our goals. 

Our ultimate goal is to enable anyone to become a teacher in their community, and providing them with the physical materials they need is an important step in that process. 

--> Building a user base: We're struggling to get the word out there about STEAMBox, and we need to expand the number of users. Solve can help us achieve that goal. 

--> Financial funding: Our ultimate goal is to have people rent out their own materials on STEAMBox's platform, but we need to build an initial repository of materials, and that takes funding. 

--> Mentorship: Our team is primarily high school students, so we need a lot of professional advice in order to stay on track.