As part of the conclusion of the AportaCiencias Programme, an initiative promoted by the Austral University Patagonia Campus in Chile and funded by the Aisen Regional Government’s Innovation Fund for Competitiveness, a party was held at the Aisen Regional Museum bringing together girls, boys and young adults with their families and teachers from the region.
AportaCiencias is an informal, strategic and disruptive educational project for the development of scientific skills that seeks to stimulate interaction with the scientific community and train citizens in science with a profession for the region.
Communication I contribute
Seeking to celebrate two years of program implementation, the ceremony included various activities, including a discussion of “Communication I Contributed” by Macarena Rojas, a biologist, and a Masters in Journalism from the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile related to sciences, together with Catalina Silva, an activist for action Climate, a student in environmental biology at the University of Chile and co-founder of “1000 Actions for Change.”
The discussion highlighted the role of scientific communication in a local and global context. In this regard, Marisol Barría, AportaCiencias Program Director, noted that “Just as science is essential to the development of society, so the move towards a more attractive and effective communication of science is essential for scientific knowledge to be more accessible to people. Promoting its adoption and developing scientific thought that contributes to a more informed society. With arguments to make a decision.”
Science contributes to the region
After the conversation, the ceremony included an appreciation for the program participants with their families and the educational community.
Miguel Pérez, attorney for Gabriela Pérez – participant in the program – commented: “During the pandemic as a family we were complicated with time, classes and connections, and Aportasias was like a balm, adapting and motivating children through an important gender perspective. I saw my daughter excited and excited every time I participated in activities program and saw how it fueled her interest in science. We are very proud to be here today and to close this course, and know that many opportunities open up for her.”
Regarding his participation in the program, Basic Education student Nelson de la Hoz said: “I really loved participating. At one point, they sent us a technology kit to work on and it was great, they gave us a lot of material and support and taught us how to use the materials.”
Collaborative Science for the New Age
The development of the AportaCiencias program marked a milestone in the way science is done and researched in informal learning spaces and in virtual contexts where a regional and social approach was evident from the design of each experiment and its strong collaborative nature.
“This was my first exposure to science and I want to highlight the spirit of collaboration within the program and between our peers and educators. It opened a door for me to the world of research and science that I now love and want to continue in building on the experience of portacasensias,” said Ignasia Nunez, a high school student.
Regarding this, Marisol Barria concluded: “The feeling of collaborative work and community was present everywhere as we interacted with children and young people from institutions in the counties of Coehaïek, Essen, Cessen, and Villa O’Higgins, along with community sciences and institutions that supported us on this path and that were successful. Now the program is shown to both children and young people who were part of this initiative and we hope to see how they have applied the learning achieved in this experience, becoming agents of change within their communities: you are now AportaCiencias en the Territory”.
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