TY - JOUR
T1 - Engaging Scientific Diasporas in STEAM Education
T2 - The Case of Science Clubs Colombia
AU - Avendano-Uribe, Bryann E.
AU - Lombana-Bermudez, Andres
AU - Flórez, Laura V.
AU - Chaparro, Elisa
AU - Hernandez-Morales, Adriana Carolina
AU - Archbold, Jorge
AU - Buitrago-Casas, Juan Camilo
AU - Porras, Ana Maria
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © 2022 Avendano-Uribe, Lombana-Bermudez, Flórez, Chaparro, Hernandez-Morales, Archbold, Buitrago-Casas and Porras.
PY - 2022
Y1 - 2022
N2 - Currently, there is limited insight on the role that scientific diasporas can play in STEAM education in Latin America. Here, we present the Science Clubs Colombia (Clubes de Ciencia Colombia-SCC) program, a pioneering STEAM capacity-building initiative led by volunteer scientists to engage youth and children from underserved communities in science. The program brings together researchers based in Colombia and abroad to lead intensive project-based learning workshops for young students in urban and rural areas. These projects focus on channeling the students' technical and cognitive scientific aptitudes to tackle challenges of both local and global relevance. The program provides high-quality STEAM education adapted to communities' needs and articulates long-lasting international collaborations using the mobility of the Colombian diaspora. The program's success is tangible via its sustained growth and adaptability. Since its first version in 2015, 722 volunteer scientists living abroad or in Colombia have collaborated to create 364 clubs with the participation of 9,295 students. We describe elements of the SCC program that lead to a scalable and reproducible outcome to engage science diasporas in STEAM education. Additionally, we discuss the involvement of multiple stakeholders and the generation of international networks as potential science diplomacy outcomes. The SCC program strengthens the involvement of Latin American youth in science, demonstrates the potential of engaging scientific diasporas in science education, and enriches connections between the Global South and the Global North.
AB - Currently, there is limited insight on the role that scientific diasporas can play in STEAM education in Latin America. Here, we present the Science Clubs Colombia (Clubes de Ciencia Colombia-SCC) program, a pioneering STEAM capacity-building initiative led by volunteer scientists to engage youth and children from underserved communities in science. The program brings together researchers based in Colombia and abroad to lead intensive project-based learning workshops for young students in urban and rural areas. These projects focus on channeling the students' technical and cognitive scientific aptitudes to tackle challenges of both local and global relevance. The program provides high-quality STEAM education adapted to communities' needs and articulates long-lasting international collaborations using the mobility of the Colombian diaspora. The program's success is tangible via its sustained growth and adaptability. Since its first version in 2015, 722 volunteer scientists living abroad or in Colombia have collaborated to create 364 clubs with the participation of 9,295 students. We describe elements of the SCC program that lead to a scalable and reproducible outcome to engage science diasporas in STEAM education. Additionally, we discuss the involvement of multiple stakeholders and the generation of international networks as potential science diplomacy outcomes. The SCC program strengthens the involvement of Latin American youth in science, demonstrates the potential of engaging scientific diasporas in science education, and enriches connections between the Global South and the Global North.
KW - Colombian scientists
KW - K-12 education
KW - STEAM education
KW - educational policy
KW - scientific diasporas
KW - scientific vocations
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85142175198&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3389/frma.2022.898167
DO - 10.3389/frma.2022.898167
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85142175198
SN - 2504-0537
VL - 7
JO - Frontiers in Research Metrics and Analytics
JF - Frontiers in Research Metrics and Analytics
M1 - 898167
ER -