2024 Annual Impact Report
The world is changing rapidly. From climate and technology to political and social systems, every week we have a new example in support of the proverb that change is the only constant thing. Our mission at Science Journal for Kids is to relay how science tries to make sense of these changes. Some of our content in that vein:
- Scientific article How does fear speech spread on social media? and video Can you tell which of these videos is deepfake? and our entire Social Media and AI collections.
- Scientific article How can air travel produce fewer greenhouse gas emissions? and the Climate & Energy collection.
- Science sets How safe is vaping? and What is even more important than being right? and the Human Cognition and Teen Health collections.
Will human societies adapt to these changes? It remains to be seen.
What I can share from my own life experience is that having a strong support network helps tremendously in times of change. Here at SJK, we have been lucky to have a really strong and consistent team of dedicated people who have been producing high-quality science teaching content for 9 years now! Consequently, our readership has been growing organically by about 30% every year.
This type of sustainable growth provides much needed stability in a world of change. Thank you for being part of this journey as an educator, reader or supporter.
Cheers,
Tanya Dimitrova
Founder and Managing Editor
Content
Scientific Articles
In 2024 we adapted and published 31 new scientific articles.
- All of them come complete with a visual media component: a research recap or a lesson idea video.
- Each includes a text-to-speech audio version for improved accessibility. (Also available as a podcast.)
- All articles offer assessment questions, a teacher’s key and additional lesson plan ideas.
- Many are translated into Spanish and other languages. We offer Spanish audio versions too.
- We covered topics from a wide range of fields: from Archeology and Astronomy all the way to Biodiversity and Conservation and Health & Medicine.
Reach
- Our scientific articles had 428,000 downloads (total over 12 months).
- Our top article was How do some fungi turn insects into zombies? with 13,300 downloads.
- Most downloads are by teachers who share the article with their entire classroom, so the number of students we reached is in the range of 8-12 million.
- The average annual increase in downloads for the past two school years is 37% and 29%.
Videos
We created and published 61 new videos on our YouTube channel. They are organized in 3 playlists:
- SJK Academy: Scientific Research Recap – blackboard video summaries of our articles in a format inspired by Khan Academy.
- Lesson Ideas and Teaching Tutorials – additional video resources for teachers.
- SJK Audio Edition – audio versions of 140 adapted articles.
Reach
- 72,000+ views in 12 months – double from 2023.
- 2,800 hours watched.
Podcasts
We maintain 3 shows, available on all podcasting platforms:
- Ask-a-Scientist – fun interviews with researchers whose papers we’ve adapted.
- Lesson Ideas – additional teaching tips ans resources for middle school teachers.
- SJK Audio Edition – podcast version of our SJK Audio Edition playlist on YouTube.
Reach
- 8,000+ downloads in 12 months.
Partnerships
We developed several new partnerships with organizations that share our mission:
- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) collaborated with SJK to produce a SJK Academy blackboard video of a research paper by CDC researchers.
- Harvard University’s LabXchange – a free online science teaching platform that republished 370+ pieces of content from SJK.
- GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance regularly republishes SJK‘s vaccine-related articles.
- In a large online campaign called SJK Recommends we presented a list of 20+ kindred organizations that provide free high-quality STEM teaching resources for educators.
Audience
At the end of 2024, we have:
- 2.7 million views on the map of research locations we have covered in our articles.
- 20,000+ subscribers to our monthly newsletter. (We have 600 new subscriptions per month.)
- 1200 subscribers on our YouTube channel. (Their number doubled in the past 12 months.)
- 7,500+ account followers on Instagram, Facebook and our Facebook group SJK Official Community.
- 2,700+ account followers on LinkedIn, Twitter/X, BlueSky, and TikTok.
Who are our readers?
The majority are teachers.
- Middle school (42%) or high school (52%).
- Subjects: general science, biology, chemistry, physics, English as a second language, general social science, psychology, and history.
- Each teacher who uses our resources shares them with an average of 50 students.
- 60% teach at economically disadvantaged areas (schools with Title 1 or Free and Reduced Meals Program).
- 80% of their classes include students with English as a second language.
- 75% of classes include special education and neurodiverse students.
Geographic distribution of readers:
- 65% of our readers are in the USA.
- 15% are in the UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.
- 20% are from 150+ other countries around the world.
Feedback from Educators
I LOVE your journal articles. As a scientist turned middle school teacher, I love bringing real research to my students in an accessible way. I try to find an article that complements every unit I teach. Reading scientific journals is new for middle schoolers. They seem to like it more than text book reading.
Your articles are awesome. I use them for literacy lessons, I make my own questions that suit the focus of the topic if the provided questions don't hit the mark. I've used many on evolution and human biology - my Year 10s liked the one on the effects of space on the human body and bones. Students on the whole find the articles engaging. Just keep going and find current topics that are in the news or are issues for society. They're really good.
The curriculum used in my current setting is highly scripted (which I do not care for) and I use your content as I can to supplement with something that is more likely to address student interests rather than the primary goal of boosting standardized test scores. Students were excited to discuss measures they could undertake to improve their health outcomes. This is a valuable resource and I look forward to using it consistently in the future.
Team
Science Journal for Kids is produced by a team of:
- 5 writers
- 5 editors
- 2 designers
- 6 outreach & marketing managers and volunteers
Nearly the entire current team has been with us for more than three years.
Financials
2024 Revenue: $117,800 in total
- Grants from foundations: $80,000
- Program services: publication fees: $17,700
- Donations: $20,100
2024 Expenses: $72,800 in total
- Program services: content creation: $54,700
- Management and operations: $10,600
- Fundraising: $7,500
Science Journal for Kids receives support from:
- The Goggio Family Foundation
- GM Foundation
- Moderna Foundation
- JetBlue Foundation
- Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
- 31 individual donors
Thanks to these generous donors, all of SJK‘s science teaching content is available for free. On behalf of all our readers, thank you for the support!
