Deadline: 14-May-23
The U.S. Embassy Yerevan, of the U.S. Department of State, announces an open competition for organizations to submit applications to carry out program(s) that will enhance Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) education in Armenia, and will promote entrepreneurial thinking and capacities among youth.
Project Goals & Objectives
- Project 1: Promoting STEM Education in Armenia
- Project ceiling: $200,000
- Goal 1: Improve the quality of Armenian STEM education by providing Armenian STEM educators with training and access to Western STEM education materials, teaching methods, and learning practices.
- Goal 2: Empower and encourage Armenian youth to pursue higher education and careers in STEM fields.
- Objective 1: Infuse STEM instruction with engaging inquiry-based experiences to create/adapt/localize STEM simulation activities/games/guiding materials in Armenian and/or to develop science experiments that will help students understand scientific concepts and processes.
- Objective 2: Promote STEM teachers’ professional development skills and knowledge through a tailored program/events/activities aimed at building STEM teachers’ network locally, regionally, and/or internationally (exchanges, mentorship, coaching, etc.), learning new skills, and developing themselves as professional educators able to offer creative solutions and to create relevant STEM resources and a student-centered teaching environment in their classrooms.
- Objective 3: Develop STEM-focused materials that provide opportunities to engage in the practices of science and mathematics to sustain students’ interest in continuing into higher education majors in STEM as well as to enhance the results of the learning process of STEM subjects in schools.
- Objective 4: Offer integrated project-based learning and/or real-world internship experiences to build the crucial link between students’ academic achievements and future economic success.
- Project ceiling: $200,000
- Project 2: Promoting Entrepreneurial Skills for Armenian Youth
- Project ceiling: $150,000
- Goal: Strengthen Armenia’s economic resiliency and inclusive economic growth by promoting the entrepreneurial thinking and capacities among young people, primarily from rural communities of Armenia.
- Objective 1: Using a competitive and youth development approach, participants in the project will learn creative, soft/transversal, problem solving, entrepreneurship and leadership skills in the pursuit of broader goals of empowering youth, economic development, job creation, business development, and inclusive economic growth.
- Objective 2: Tailor and implement data-informed and needs-driven activities to spur entrepreneurship and the start-up ecosystem in regional communities of Armenia, and foster connections with the U.S. ecosystem for business plan and startup development through mentorship, networking, knowledge sharing, and partnerships.
- Goal: Strengthen Armenia’s economic resiliency and inclusive economic growth by promoting the entrepreneurial thinking and capacities among young people, primarily from rural communities of Armenia.
- Project ceiling: $150,000
Funding Information
- Length of performance period: up to 36 months
- Number of awards anticipated: up to three awards
- Award amounts: up to $200,000 for Project 1, and up to $150,000 for Project 2; or up to $350,000 for proposals addressing both projects
- Total available funding: up to $350,000
- Anticipated programs start date: October 1, 2023
Expected Results
- Project 1: Promoting STEM Education in Armenia
- Educator Training Outcomes:
- STEM teachers are able and confident to use diverse techniques and methodologies to improve their students’ knowledge and skills set. The teachers are able to adapt to changing realities and update their lessons to offer student-centered and innovative approaches in their classrooms.
- STEM teachers engage their students more effectively through STEM simulation activities/games, experiments as well as make use of the resources that can enhance their teaching.
- STEM teachers have access to resources that allow them to transform the teaching of STEM subjects in their classrooms by increasing student engagement and interest. The teachers build/are engaged in a network to learn from one another through mentorship, coaching, and exchange of experience.
- A database of STEM simulation activities/games/guiding materials/video content/usage manuals are created for STEM teachers to actively incorporate them in their lessons to raise their students’ level of engagement, knowledge, and interest in STEM subjects. Students learn or master STEM concepts through interacting with digital models, simulations, and dynamic representations of mathematical, scientific, and engineering systems.
- Relevant materials, technology enhanced spaces, and/or simulation environments are created that stimulate students’ thinking and connect their learning to real-world experiences.
- Student Learning Outcomes:
- Students develop a set of thinking, reasoning, teamwork, investigative, and problemsolving skills.
- Students use technology to develop and/or explain models and processes based on data and evidence.
- The number of school graduates choosing higher education majors in STEM fields increases.
- Educator Training Outcomes:
- Project 2: Promoting Entrepreneurial Skills for Armenian Youth
- Youth and aspiring entrepreneurs from rural communities of Armenia gain creative entrepreneurship, problem solving and leadership skills, and develop greater capacities to create value locally.
- Youth gain greater understanding of U.S. business thinking and entrepreneurial approach.
- Partnerships are created between the entrepreneurial ecosystems in Armenia and the United States
Activities
- Project 1: Promoting STEM Education in Armenia
- Creation/adaptation/localization of STEM simulation activities/games/guiding materials in Armenian: The proposal(s) should aim at creating a database of STEM simulation activities, teachers’ guides, and real-life experiments (if and when applicable). The possibilities for getting students involved in stimulating STEM experiences are endless and can be adapted to various levels of difficulty for different grades.
- Promote STEM teachers’ professional development skills and knowledge: The proposal must include a plan for professional development activities for STEM teachers, designed for both new and experienced teachers. The plan should outline the pipeline for equipping the beneficiaries with skills and knowledge that will help them create opportunities in their classrooms for their students to authentically use and learn STEM subjects through engaging and evidence-based activities.
- STEM-focused materials: The materials may vary to respond to the needs in the field. The assessment and evaluation documents to measure students’ learning outcomes should be incorporated in the materials development process.
- Integrated project-based learning and/or real-world internship experiences: Curricular and/or co-curricular activities and teachers’ guides should be created to increase student motivation and persistence in STEM through the implementation of STEM projects and exposure to stimulating STEM environments. Innovative approaches and content should be considered to broaden students’ experiences. For example, Artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming recognized as an important part of STEM education and future technologies.
- Project 2: Promoting Entrepreneurial Skills for Armenian Youth
- Develop an entrepreneurship competition or capacity building activity. The competition could involve several stages, starting with local and regional competitions that feed into a national competition.
- Through the competition or capacity building activity, youth from rural communities of Armenia should gain enhanced understanding regarding responsible, socially conscious, and creative entrepreneurship, and develop greater capacities to create value locally.
- The competition or capacity building activity should create a network of budding entrepreneurs from rural communities of Armenia and facilitate the transfer of skills and sharing of resources between members.
- The competition or capacity building activity should increase understanding of U.S. business thinking, and practice is formed among the Armenian youth, and partnerships are created between the entrepreneurial ecosystems in Armenia and the United States.
- The competition or capacity building activity could include a prize fund for the winning competitors to incubate their startup business idea.
- The competition or capacity building activity should follow the principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion to ensure equal opportunity for applicants from diverse backgrounds, and that the numbers of participants in the competition are gender balanced.
Audiences
- Project 1: Promoting STEM Education in Armenia
- STEM educators: This group includes teachers, administrators, trainers, mentors, coaches, resource developers, experts/specialists, and policymakers.
- Students/pupils in grades 7-12.
- Project 2: Promoting Entrepreneurial Skills for Armenian Youth
- Youth and young entrepreneurs, with a focus on women, primarily from rural regions of Armenia, aged 18-30.
- Armenian start-ups and business community.
Priority Region: Armenia. Applicants are strongly encouraged to involve beneficiaries from rural as well as under-privileged/under-served communities.
Eligibility Criteria
- Not-for-profit organizations, including think tanks and civil society/non-governmental organizations, from Armenia and the United States.
- Educational Institutions from the United States and Armenia.
- Foreign Public Entities based in Armenia.
For more information, visit U.S. Embassy in Armenia.