Carmen Salcedo is educational innovation coordinator at UpSocial Y Doctor in Social and Cultural Anthropology. We present it in Peques and Más because it has participated directly in the work of search and classification of 100 innovative educational initiatives that were published in the Top 100 Educational Innovations report of the Telefónica Foundation. As we mentioned a few weeks ago, I recommend the book for all teachers and parents interested in the situation of STEM teachings (science, technology, engineering and mathematics). And we also commented that Mamen SalcedoWhen he presented the work in Madrid, he made a presentation, very brief but very intense, in which He encouraged us to enjoy the book, discovering the initiatives, deepening them and knowing them in detail. Mamen comes to Peques and Más to tell us more details about the work in this interview.
What does STEM mean and why is it important to focus on this type of subject among kids?
STEM they are the acronym in English of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. It is a term that in recent years has come to the fore in educational agendas, because each year the number of young people who opt for these training itineraries decreases. In Spain, according to Eurostat data, only 13 out of every 1,000 people have completed studies in these fields.
This fact is problematic in several ways, on the one hand, the labor market demands more and more specialized profiles in these matters and on the other, key decisions for the sustainable development of our society, will depend largely on the STEM knowledge of citizens. It is important, therefore, that from the earliest educational stages we develop the interest and competences of boys and girls in STEM. It is a right and a requirement for personal and collective development.
What are the factors that affect the STEM training of children?
It is necessary, given the challenge we mentioned, to focus our attention not only on the factors that affect STEM training, but also on those that influence the choice of students for these training itineraries. From this broader vision, the Research Center for Scientific and Mathematical Education of the Autonomous University of Barcelona (CRECIM) points out that the choice of STEM studies is a dynamic and complex process that depends on multiple factors, strongly related to each other.
These factors can be classified into four large groups: educational, relative to the level of competence and interest of children in STEM; psychological, that is, how they are perceived and placed before the STEM formation; informativeWhat do they know about these subjects and their possibilities of social and professional application; Y social, related to the image of the scientific-technological professions in the sociocultural context.
It is important that, from elementary school, we attend to these four types of factors to reverse the election process and increase the number of students who favor the STEM fields. For this, not only is it enough to improve teaching-learning methodologies in the classroom, but it is also important to publicize STEM professions, bring these areas closer to the educational community, improve the social image of these professionals, strengthen the extracurricular world in this field, etc.
In recent years in Spain only 13 out of every 1,000 people have completed studies in STEM
What are the projects that stand out the most and why in the momentum of STEM?
In the report of 100 educational innovations focused on the promotion of scientific-technological vocations, which Fundación Telefónica promoted this year (see publication), 20 initiatives that have obtained important results in the training and motivation of students in STEM are highlighted. In these cases, in addition to the description of each of these proposals, you can see in the report to what extent they intervene in the mentioned factors (educational, psychological, social and informative), in which educational field they develop (formal, non-formal and informal) and what age group they focus on.
In general, if we had to highlight common denominators of these successful innovations, it should be mentioned that: they present teaching-learning methodologies that make STEM subjects affordable and exciting for students. They are usually based on a participatory and active approach, which makes the student the protagonist of his discovery process and helps him gain confidence in mathematics or science; guide students in a personalized way in a relevant period of time; they bring the STEM professional world to school, giving students real and suggestive references; they support teacher training, both in didactic innovation and in knowledge of the STEM work world.
It should also be noted that there are initiatives that take advantage of the non-formal and informal educational world, through programs of extracurricular activities or resources in the media. In fact, there are proposals that integrate the activity in the classroom with the extracurricular and family. It is an integrative approach that is very efficient.
In which countries is a strong commitment to STEM perceived and in what kind of educational centers: private or public?
United Kingdom and USA they are countries where the concern for STEM in educational agendas emerged a few years ago. That is why in these two countries it is where we can detect more initiatives or, at least, with more experience and results. But we can say that, currently, it is a universal line. We find proposals of interest in any European country, but also in countries on other continents such as India, South Africa or Colombia.
As for the ownership of the centers, it is not a defining indicator for the commitment in relation to STEM. Yes it turns out to be the existence or not of collaboration networks between the education sector (schools, universities ...), the business sector, private production and scientific dissemination entities (technology centers, museums ...) and government entities. Those territories where there has been a socio-political will to generate these collaborative ecosystems, STEM promotion has had more impact on the network of schools, both private and public.
United Kingdom and USA they are countries where the concern for STEM in educational agendas emerged a few years ago
How did you evaluate all the innovations?
After conducting an international exploration and call through the network, those initiatives that met the following criteria were preselected: to be a proven innovation; with a significant implementation (both quantitative and qualitative impact); with an orientation to scalability, that is, prepared to be replicated elsewhere; and with a built-in sustainability formula (diversified income model, optimization of resources, use of community resources, etc.)
The documentary sources of the initiatives were analyzed, the preselected ones were contacted and all the necessary information was collected so that a jury of experts could assess the proposals according to the mentioned criteria.
Once the proposals by this jury were selected, which assessed their suitability to be implemented in Spain, the entrepreneurs were invited to come to Madrid and Barcelona to present their models in detail.
What scientific bases support the educational initiatives presented?
The selected proposals have a solid track record of continuous experimentation and evaluation. They have developed studies, with the support of independent universities or research centers, that have measured the educational impact through different methodologies, such as conducting randomized controlled tests.
The challenge of this century is to identify the social innovations that work and bring them to scale
How is the educational community in Spain responding to this book? What comments are coming to you about it?
Since the end of June, when the presentation acts took place, we know that the volume of downloads of the report on the Fundación Telefónica website has been considerable.
Also from public organizations and private entities, promoters of educational programs, has shown interest in replicating the three initiatives presented at the events: Apps for Good, Jump math Y ScienceLab. We are supporting the process so that a transfer and implementation adapted to our socio-educational context is completed.
How is STEM learning integrated among children, with extracurriculars? With television? With mobile applications? With gamification? With video games?
The initiatives we have found are diverse. All possible strategies, spaces and resources are used: media, technological resources, places and times for extracurricular activities, etc.
We usually compartmentalize and prioritize children's learning spaces, but this is a mistake. Our children and students really develop their knowledge in all areas and with all the means at their disposal. Sometimes a game with your friends or a visit with the family to a museum has enormous power to awaken your attachment to STEM learning. If we also take this offer to mobile devices or the world of video games, so close to them, we get a complete approach. If the learning in the classroom is completed, it is enriched with experiences in the environment, with people and evocative instruments for our students, we help not only to acquire the skills and precise knowledge, but also a positive attitude towards the STEM world.
How is the situation in Spain regarding the learning of STEM and how is it positioned in the world? Are we facing a possible loss of opportunities?
As I mentioned earlier, according to Eurostat data, in Spain only 13 out of every 1,000 people have completed studies in these fields. Likewise, in the PISA results of 2012, in Mathematics, Spain was ranked 25 of 34 and in Science, ranked 21 of 34.
It is obvious that we have to act, but positively supporting teachers, students and families; enabling collaboration between the different agents (school, public administration, company, etc.) We need a positive, creative and collaborative reinforcement. The message to be transmitted to the educational community is that it can be improved, that it is worth investing effort, passion and attention in STEM.
How can you get the STEM learned in school to maintain momentum in the University and in the Company?
It is important that the university and business world go hand in hand, knowledge is exchanged and, above all, there is continuous interaction. If not, there is a disconnection and the preparation that we will be giving to our university students will not meet the socio-labor demand. In addition, students need to connect what they are learning with real challenges of their social environment, if the knowledge they are acquiring does not lose significance.
How are trainers trained in STEM?
In the report of 100 innovations of Fundación Telefónica there are 7 initiatives that offer resources for teaching action, but above all training in teaching methodologies, which are effective to address the activity in the classroom in a more competent and experimental way for students.
It is interesting to see how teachers learn together with STEM professionals to design their programming, classroom activities and, very importantly, to guide their students more effectively and based on STEM academic and professional options.
The message to be transmitted to the educational community is that it can be improved and that it is worth investing effort in STEM
What has been UpSocial's contribution to the preparation of the report?
UpSocial has taken over the investigation for the realization of the report.
At UpSocial we work to identify and enhance social innovation. As we present in our presentation, we believe that social problems require, today more than ever, solutions with a new, more effective and efficient approach. Throughout the world there are innovative solutions that respond to social challenges but, in most cases, their impact is local. The challenge of this century is to identify the social innovations that work and bring them to scale.
We launched an initiative, Social Innovation for Communities, to accelerate this process of change. Thanks to this initiative, we identify social innovations that are working successfully and facilitate their implementation in new contexts.
I have not seen any application that puts the focus on chess but in programming and mathematics. Have you analyzed any initiative on chess?
Unfortunately, we only got to know some initiative that was working on the implementation of chess in schools in Latin America. But we did not have impact data. However, it is a very interesting tool for working STEM skills and it is worthwhile to follow closely the experiences that have already been developed in several countries.
Although the focus is STEM, what other skills have you detected that are fundamental to children's development?
Training in essential competencies is required not only for STEM but also to develop in the knowledge society, such as: problem solving, creativity, the capacity for continuous exploratory and collaborative learning, information management, etc. Many of the initiatives that we have identified, for example, are fundamentally based on teamwork, something fundamental today to develop complex research projects or professionals.
Who is more motivated by STEM, boys or girls?
A good teaching-learning methodology motivates both boys and girls alike. The problem we have is that social stereotypes are marking as the educational itinerary progresses, and it is clear that many students do not opt for STEM careers because of the socially granted role. In fact there are more than twenty points of difference in relation to the boys who choose this type of race, as the CRECIM highlighted.
Girls respond very positively, in academic performance and motivation, to STEM educational innovation proposals
Girls respond very positively, in academic performance and motivation, to STEM educational innovation proposals. If the visibility of STEM professional women is enhanced, if social and family barriers around female talent are dismantled, we will be able to strengthen the role of women in this field.
A good example is one of the initiatives that stood out in the Telephone Challenge process. This is WISE (Woman into Science and Engineering) from the United Kingdom. It is an organization that has been working for thirty years to attract, develop and maintain female talent in STEM throughout the training and work itinerary. For this, it offers diverse services from the school stage to the labor integration.
And here the interview with Mamen SalcedoI really appreciate the attention with Peques and More to tell us this extraordinary search and analysis of STEM in the educational process. I reiterate my admiration for the work done, I congratulate the authors for the extraordinary work of analysis and I recommend that all parents and teachers take a look at the initiatives because many of them will surely end up integrating into the usual educational projects.
