Why is it important for children to learn science in a more didactic way?

With the covid-19 pandemic, talking about science has become a daily occurrence in most people’s lives. There are initiatives that seek for students to learn about this area from a young age, such as the STEAM program of the Faculty of Science and Philosophy of the Cayetano Heredia University.

The coordinator of this project, Hugo Flores Liñán, commented that science teaching from school is essential even so, in the future, the students will not dedicate themselves to tasks related to that area.

“Your son can be a lawyer, chef, journalist, but in those three cases he must know how to look for information, know how to contrast it, know how to launch hypotheses, he must know how to write his conclusions, he must know how to take actions and use other scientific tools,” he told the Andina agency.

STEAM approach in Peru

Flores proposes the inclusion of the STEAM approach to improve education in the country. This model was born in the United States, but is used in South American countries such as Chile, Mexico or Colombia.

The name of STEAM comes from the acronym in English of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) and seeks the independence of students as well as making the classroom a learning community.

“What is proposed is bring take what the student lives in the day to day and submit it to an analysis from the 5 points of view of the letters STEAM. Science is important, but if it is not related to the other letters or to the other human disciplines, it is not enough ”, mentioned the coordinator of Cayetano Heredia.

According to Hugo Flores, this pedagogical approach would begin to be used by the Ministry of Education (Minedu) starting this year. However, he added, its application is complex and needs the support of the State to have good results.

“The Minedu has to follow up at the national level. Although teachers have been handling the concept of work by competences for a long time, they have to take the training, access the material and remove some myths such as training by category, ”he declared.

More science for everyone

With the application of the STEAM approach, students are expected to develop different skills and abilities. For Flores, this should apply from when the students are children. “Children are the best scientists we have. Your questions are free of any subjectivity. His innate curiosity is perfect for working with the scientific method ”.

The new tools that will be learned with this pedagogical approach may allow more people to immerse themselves in science and take it into account.

“To develop science, the help of the population is important. Without a doubt it is important to invest more in science, but first we have to have a demand and interest, which will be gained thanks to the experience with the STEAM method ”, he stressed.

It should be noted that the STEAM approach has been developed at the aforementioned university for nearly two decades with courses for schoolchildren that promote these skills and knowledge. The virtual workshops that start in January 2022.

The teaching is given with experiments appropriate to the different ages of the students and accompanying the course with conversations for parents and students with scientists on topics such as vocational guidance, nutrition and control of emotions, among others.