It is well known that one of the great areas of opportunity in the development of students, and even teachers, are those of science, technology and mathematics in general; We are also clear that there are serious shortcomings in the formation of effective critical thinkers and decision makers.
This happens not only in Latin America but throughout the world. Companies lack a trained workforce and, worse still, leaders with a scientific as well as a technological approach that can provide solutions to the present and future problems that the world is going through and will demand.
According to the figures released by the National Science Foundation of the United States, in its Science and Engineering 2020 report, it places Asian countries such as Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan in the first three places in the branches of science. and mathematics; no Spanish-speaking country appears at the top, which marks a wide gap between the two cultures.
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In this way, it is essential to promote initiatives that lead us to the development of these competencies, which not only impact the areas known as “hard”, where the so-hated mathematics is involved, such as engineering or scientific careers, but also to the rest of the academic programs in order to promote comprehensive training in all fields of knowledge.
One of the great initiatives that is having a great boom today is STEM education and that by its acronym refers to science, technology, engineering and mathematics; although in recent years it has evolved towards STEAM, where the “A” corresponds to the arts in order to add the process of creativity to the methodology.
The model has had, at present, an enormous apogee due to the labor demand of graduates with the competencies that it intends to develop, namely: critical thinking, creative thinking, problem solving, innovation, research, collaboration and leadership, all based on the guidelines of the scientific method.
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Although the antecedents come from the 1990s through the National Science Foundation of the United States, which envisioned a lack of candidates in the aforementioned areas for the development of advanced technology projects, to this is added the consideration that this type of subjects were being developed in isolated environments, not very creative and without a practical approach.
One of the main objectives of the model is to identify students’ skills and knowledge at a very early age, in addition to developing them under a practical, fun, collaborative and inclusive approach of all their scientific and mathematical skills through simple practical projects, in the who, in collaboration with their colleagues, solve problems of daily life, but always highlighting logical thinking, which they will develop throughout their lives with the solution of increasingly complex projects and with palpable social impact.
The system is based on the implementation of different learning strategies, some of them:
- Explicit learning
- Teaching Science by Inquiry or IBSE
- Learning based on problems, challenges or projects
- Engineering design-based learning
- Community connected learning
- Strategies design thinking
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The challenge to achieve the implementation of STEAM education is very great, since it requires different factors working in a synchronized way, some are:
- Updated and innovative curriculum
- Evaluation model update
- Highly trained teachers
- Appropriate and adapted physical spaces
- Technological infrastructure
- Management team interested in educational innovation
- Parents interested in participating in the projects
Innovation is the basis for the economic development of communities and training future innovators is our responsibility as educational institutions. We must take up the challenge regardless of the educational level in which we find ourselves and train critical, creative, transformative and scientifically based thinkers, so that they are our own. opinion and action leaders with a view to a better future.
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Jesús Deloya, Director of Educational Innovation at Aliat Universidades *
The opinions expressed are solely the responsibility of their authors and are completely independent of the position and editorial line of Forbes Mexico.