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Caribbean STEM Olympiads

 
 
 

Overview

The CSF will be holding its next regional Caribbean STEM Olympiads in mid January, 2024. Principals and teachers in the English-Speaking Caribbean are encouraged to send teams of students to compete in the Olympiads. Individual competitors and teams from clubs and associations are also encouraged to apply. Medal certificates and cash prizes will be awarded to the winning teams and individuals.

For the recently concluded 2023 Olympiads, details can be found at the 2023 Caribbean STEM Olympiad Events and Guidelines page. Here is a press release summarizing the activities and detailing the winning teams by country, event and age level. This document also contains links to short video highlights of the 2023 Olympiad events.

Science popularization initiatives are one of the most effective methods of engaging parents, students, teachers, and the public in STEM. The Caribbean STEM Olympiads is one such annual initiative. The CSO is one of the projects of the CSF that aims to fulfill the commitment of enhancing the quality of secondary and tertiary science education in the Region while creating a technology-savvy workforce.

In 2024, most of the events will be held in a virtual format on the Zoom platform. In these STEM Olympiads, teams from secondary and tertiary educational institutions (or home schooled) compete in several game components at three different age levels:

  • Level I for students 12 – 15 years of age
  • Level II for students 16 – 18 years of age
  • Level III for students 19 – 21 years of age

The events of the 2024 STEM Olympiads will include:
(a) Math Olympiads
(b) CSF Computer Coding Games (aimed at solving one of the challenges faced by Caribbean communities)

  • Scratch-based games for Level I
  • Python-based games or games based on other high-level software (no Scratch) for Level II
  • Games based on Python or other high-level software (no Scratch) for Level III

(c) A Robotics Showcase

Objectives of the CSO

The primary objectives of the Caribbean STEM Olympiads are to:

  • Assist with STEM education reform and science popularization in the Caribbean
  • Raise community awareness of the importance of science and technology for job creation
  • Provide informal learning opportunities in mathematics, coding, and robotics (especially for young women and at-risk youth)
  • Ignite and nurture the STEM inventiveness in our youth
  • Encourage students to pursue further studies in the STEM-related disciplines
  • Give our medalists a competitive advantage on their university applications
  • Attract more scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs, and world-renowned technology-academicians to the Region

Another aim of the CSO is to encourage more female participation in the STEM disciplines. All other things being equal, teams with a larger fraction of females will be given preference over all-male teams during the selection process for participation in the Olympiad events.

The Caribbean STEM Olympic games will test the competitors’ creativity, critical thinking, problem solving, leadership, and teamwork as well as math and coding skills. They will also provide a launchpad for future Caribbean teams that could compete regionally and internationally in multiple age categories.

The hope is that, in the longer term, these events will help to pave the way for the formation of new technology companies that could have a global footprint. Thus, the STEM Olympiads complement the longer-term overall objectives of the Caribbean Science Foundation which include assistance with the development of STEM-based economic pillars in the Region.

How and When to apply to be a participant in the 2024 CSOs

The application period for the 2024 CSO will open in September of 2023. Please visit this website around that time as the application materials will be posted here. The 2024 events will be similar in scope to those of 2023 Olympiads, so interested students should start preparing now.

For Sponsors

The CSF invites interested sponsors to provide the prizes, medals, and trophies for the Caribbean STEM Olympiads (CSO). In particular, the prizes to the winning teams and individuals could consist of cash, and technology-related prizes such as science kits, computers, printers, books, software licenses, or gaming devices, etc. We view our sponsors as our partners in making an investment in supporting and grooming the next generation of Caribbean STEM professionals. Sponsors also have the option to select which competitions they want to fund, or they may choose to contribute to the general pool of CSO activities, including the direct costs of planning and staging the events. Sponsors are also encouraged to propose problems whose solutions may be of interest to them, and we will consider adding them as CSO challenges for the participants.


Contact Us About the Olympiads

For more information on the Caribbean Science Foundation and on the Caribbean STEM Olympiads (CSO), please first see the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) at the bottom of the 2023 Caribbean STEM Olympiad Events and Guidelines page.

You can also reach us at:
● Telephone: 1(246) 417-7493
● Email: csfhdq@gmail.com
● Website: http://caribbeanscience.org/
You can also find us on social media at:
■ Instagram: @caribbeanscience
■ Facebook: @CaribbeanScienceFoundation