UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Science Projects

Mapping of projects at Science Buddies that connect with United Nations Sustainable Development Goals helps students discover projects and experiments with real-world impact.

Connecting Student Science Projects with UN Sustainable Development Goals

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a set of 17 global objectives surrounding social, economic, and environmental challenges. With goals ranging from ending hunger to ensuring access to clean water, the SDGs target important elements of daily life for a better and more sustainable future for everyone.

The library of science and engineering projects at Science Buddies contains more than 1,200 projects. Many of these projects provide inspiration and scaffolding for students who want to experiment and innovate with projects that tie in with specific SDGs.

To help students find projects that align with their areas of interest and to build greater awareness among students about the sustainability goals, Science Buddies is in the process of mapping projects to SDGs. This mapping helps students make more immediate connections between their science and engineering projects and areas of real-world research and innovation.

Finding Projects that Address Sustainable Development Goals

There are two primary ways to identify projects that align with an SDG.

1. When viewing a project that aligns with an SDG, students will find the SDG designation in a section titled "Global Connections." The SDG alignment appears below the experimental procedure and right above the "Variations." The familiar SDG numbered icons help students visually identify projects related to the 17 SDGs. (Tip! Clicking the icon will open a page of other projects that align with the same SDG.)

   An example of how the SDG appears on a project idea is shown below:

   
2. Students interested in choosing projects that specifically align with a UN SDG can browse projects using the links below. (As the rest of the library of projects is mapped, additional SDGs will be added.)

To learn more about the UN SDGs, visit the Sustainable Development Goals website.

Coding Projects with Real-World Meaning

Students working on projects related to specific SDGs that also involve coding may also want to learn more about Broadcom Coding with Commitment®, a program sponsored by Broadcom Foundation.