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Camps IEEE Ecuador: A proposal to increase children's interest in STEM areas

Abstract:

Latin American children and young people often lose interest in learning science; on the other hand, future jobs will require professionals with skills such as critical thinking and problem solving. Therefore, it is necessary to create spaces for children to develop skills and competencies required for future employment. IEEE Ecuador proposes an informal STEM learning program, through the implementation of a STEM camp in six communities in Ecuador, in order to provide evidence that exposing children to recreational science workshops has a positive impact on their interest in STEM areas. This paper presents a proposal for recreational science workshops, containing topics such as robotics, physics, energy, professional exhibitions and technical visits. The authors present a methodology to measure the effectiveness of the STEM Camps, obtaining indicators of learning and interest through two surveys conducted with the participants before and after the workshops. The STEM camps allowed to increase motivation towards technological vocations in 41 % of the participants, and allowed to increase learning in the topics raised in 34 % of the children.