5 innovative approaches to bridging educational gaps in diverse communities
By Carolyn Tiernan | MIT Jameel World Education Lab
The MIT Jameel World Education Lab (J-WEL) at MIT Open Learning supports innovative research from across MIT through its Education Innovation grants that is designed to improve learning on our campus and across the world. Researchers connect evidence and ideas in creative ways that will reduce barriers to learning, including lack of access. Today, we look at five research projects that are expanding access to education to underserved groups of learners, including refugees and students in the rural U.S. and Global South, by using technology and creative approaches to bridging educational gaps.
Supporting refugee children with social emotional learning
Sharifa Alghowinem and Hae Won Park at the MIT Media Lab are developing a social robot platform tailored for Arabic-speaking refugee children. This population of learners “often face significant challenges integrating into new societies due to language barriers, literacy struggles, and social-emotional difficulties,” says Alghowinem. “This problem is exacerbated by methods that do not sufficiently preserve their native language or cultural identity.”
In response, their social robot platform is equipped with culturally sensitive design and state-of-the-art algorithms, with the goal to enhance reading, vocabulary, and social-emotional learning through culturally sensitive interactions.
The platform features interactive Arabic storybooks and emotional conversation simulation scenarios that the research team developed using customized Arabic automatic speech recognition, text-to-speech, and interactive applications to provide engaging and relevant educational content. Key milestones include the development of an automated pipeline for creating interactive storybook assets, a user interface for Arabic storybooks, and a conversational agent designed in collaboration with psychiatrists and NGOs.
Alghowinem and Park aspire to scale their research through global partnerships, making their tools and frameworks open source, and making their platform accessible worldwide, even for communities with limited internet access.
Hands-on learning for creating modern electronics
Long Ju, an assistant professor in the Department of Physics, is addressing the need for hands-on learning opportunities in modern electronics. He is creating an educational module that models how semiconductors (computer chips) are made, including building an experimental kit to demonstrate photolithography, the key element of semiconductor device fabrication. This module aims to bridge the gap between theoretical knowledge and practical skills in semiconductor research and education.
“It’s a shame that there are no experiments or demos to teach students how computer chips are made,” says Ju. “There is a very big difference between knowing how something works and seeing how something works. Seeing how this process works in a lab with their fingers on it and witnessing the birth of something, in principle, similar to the computer chips they use everyday, is a totally different learning experience.”
The original idea for this project was sparked by necessity, when during the COVID-19 pandemic, Ju and his students did not have access to their typical classroom facilities. He built the photolithography setup as a temporary solution, but quickly realized that it could be used to bring modern physics education to more schools and students.
The project has already seen positive reactions from students in the Physics Junior Lab, where the module is being tested. Ju plans to share the module with other universities through workshops, expanding its impact on physics education.
Democratizing synthetic biology access with a global network of remote wet labs
David S. Kong, research scientist at the MIT Media Lab and director of the Community Biotechnology Initiative, is working to enhance bio-literacy and creative engagement with synthetic biology through a global robotic cloud lab network. This network allows students and educators without regular access to wet labs to participate in synthetic biology experimentation with only an internet connection and computer. The project builds on the Media Lab course “How to Grow (Almost) Anything (HTGAA),” which was adapted for remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Currently, there are eight global nodes — with more coming soon — active in New York City; San Francisco; London; Tokyo; Victoria and Ottawa, Canada; Quito, Ecuador; and Yonsei, Korea. Kong is also creating a HTGAA Industry Council to help supply resources for the network of nodes as they get established and operate. The team is formalizing their processes in a handbook that will allow more nodes to easily operationalize and set themselves up.
The global network is currently working on two collaborative research projects. One continues work from 2024 on antimicrobial resistant bacteria, and the other is designing neuromorphic circuits.
“I would say what we’re doing is, in a way, a new kind of science,” says Kong. “The idea of leveraging networks of researchers to come up with ideas, test those ideas, and collaboratively run experiments. That is science done in a radically different way than how we normally conduct research.”
Bringing STEAM education to underserved U.S. communities
MIT Spokes, a student-led initiative, has been working to narrow the educational gap in STEAM disciplines among rural, low-income, and underserved communities across the U.S. Since 2013, the team has cycled across the country each summer, delivering immersive STEAM workshops in schools, libraries, and correctional facilities. These efforts aim to elevate aspirations and provide resources to students who may not have access to quality STEAM education.
For their grant project, the team, overseen by Professor J. Kim Vandiver, implemented learning kits focused on hands-on STEAM experiences, tailored to the specific needs of each community. The team of student cyclists completed their cross-country tour in summer 2024. “By engaging directly with stakeholders, over successive years Spokes will be able to refine its approach to ensure maximum impact,” says Vandiver.
Remixable educational resources for creative learning
Led by Natalie Rusk from the MIT Media Lab’s Lifelong Kindergarten Group, the OctoStudio project aims to create remixable open educational resources that will support educators in using the OctoStudio mobile coding app. OctoStudio, a free block-based coding app for creating animations, games, and other interactive projects, makes coding more accessible to students who may not have access to laptops or desktops.
The resources are designed to engage students in creative, project-based learning, particularly in the Global South and other underserved regions. Countries in these regions have revised their curriculum standard to focus on broader 21st century skills, but many educators do not have practice examples or support to transform their existing teaching practices into more active learning experiences.
Expanding education access to underserved groups
These five projects, while diverse in their approaches and target audiences, share a common goal: to democratize access to quality education and empower underserved learners. The projects identify solutions that cater to diverse cultural contexts and both democratize and provide hands-on learning opportunities in STEAM disciplines.
J-WEL is proud to support MIT research that extends its impact beyond our campus, including underserved and displaced communities. We look forward to tracking and sharing the outcomes of this work over the coming year.
5 innovative approaches to bridging educational gaps in diverse communities was originally published in MIT Open Learning on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.