In response to the Covid-19 health crisis, our partner Colectic has launched some STEAM initiatives to help generate collective awareness against the coronavirus and also to directly support the communities, in which they operate.

Colectic is located in Barcelona, in the neighbourhood of Raval. Schools and other educational centres throughout the city closed their doors on 13 March, due to the health crisis. Knowing the difficulty for many families in Raval ​​to have all the necessary material resources and being aware of how the digital divide can make many students unable to follow the instructions of the schools normally, Colectic staff have joined to help the neighborhood to respond to this situation.

In this way, Colectic staff have decided to act as facilitators in collaboration with other organizations and entities in the neighborhood so that families, adults, young people and the elderly have access to computers, either to carry out school tasks, communicate with the family or take self-training courses online.

Another initiative has been helping and contributing to manufacturing different parts and protection material for healthcare workers with ‘Makers for inclusion’ project. Colectic has four 3D printers taking smoke out day and night in the houses of their revitalizers creating incessantly at full capacity.

Through the Coronavirusmakers.org Network, Colectic is in coordination with other groups of makers to share designs, availability of materials, advice and deliveries of the pieces they are building.

Colectic was born as a cooperative in 2017, but its history goes back more than 25 years ago, since it is the result of the transformation of the Teb Youth Association into a cooperative. We manage one of the first telecentres in Spain and led to the birth of the first telecentre network in Catalonia, in 1999. We currently work for the Catalan Government in the coordination and advice of 750 telecentres that are part of the Punt TIC Network.

Colectic plays a very active role in the STEAMonEdu project, with implementing all the work packages and leading the creation of the International Community of STE(A)M educators. Colectic brings to the project its 25 years of implementing various social and digital inclusion activities taking advantage of the experience acquired in previous projects, that we’d like to share with you:

Makers per la inclusió (Makers for inclusion) – in Raval district (Barcelona)

Makers for Inclusion carries out an awareness-raising task, based on outreach activities that arouse interest and encourage the learning of techniques related to digital manufacturing. It is also essential the involvement of educational agents in the territory and the development of complementary activities to the educational curriculum, extracurricular activities, open workshops, etc. In which areas? Scratch programming, electronics with Arduino and free hardware, sound technologies, digital manufacturing and 3D printing, video game creation, internet of things, etc.

In Raval district, Colectic neighborhood, the project ‘Makers in the classroom’ invite the students of the INS Milà i Fontanals institute to collaborate with groups and organizations in the area.

It is an active learning, a reflection on practice, which aims to strengthen the feeling of belonging and rooting in the territory. It focuses on students, promoting responsible and active participation through real situations of daily life, within the concept of global citizenship, seeking the good of society as a whole.

After visiting some primary schools, participants design and create their own proposal for toys/games with digital manufacturing technologies, in order to return to primary school and invigorate a game session with the little ones, in addition to giving the toys created thinking about them.

mSchools Toolbox

The mSchools Toolbox is an online repository of validated and tested mobile educational content for schools, teachers, parents and students. The content is curated by teachers and educational experts to ensure it fits the current educational curriculum.

It is a multi-faceted mEducation programme of Mobile World Capital Barcelona, in partnership with Ministry for Digital Policy and Public Administration of Generalitat of Catalonia, Barcelona City Hall, and GSMA.

mSchools empowers students and teachers to integrate mobile technologies into the classroom, opening up new ways of teaching and learning that improve achievement and employability.

Technovation Girls

Technovation Girls is a global initiative created in 2009 with the aim of increasing female participation in the technological field, in which women represent only 30% of workers. Every year, Technovation Girls Catalonia invites teams of girls (10-18 years old) to learn and apply the skills that are necessary to solve real problems by creating a mobile application.

Through a mentoring process that takes place within the classroom or as an after-school activity, the participants work on solving a problem. They work individually or in groups (from 1 to 5 participants) with the assistance of a teacher and/or an external mentor. The process begins with the detection of a specific and local problem to which the participants want to contribute a solution; the participants are inspired by the Sustainable Development Goals. Different possible solutions are designed and selected for the market study or survey.

Later, the solution is programmed with MIT’s App Inventor and, in parallel, graphic images, sales elements and a business plan is designed (written by participants over 14 years of age).

By Colectic

Núria Salán Ballesteros (Barcelona, b.1963) is a Catalan chemist, professor at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC) and current president of the Catalan Society of Technology (SCT). Last year, she won a Special Mention from the DonaTic Awards, which accredit the excellence of talent and female digital entrepreneurship in Catalonia.

We spoke with her about the STE(A)M community in Catalonia.

• In your opinion, which is the situation of the maker and STE(A)M movement education in Catalonia? Incipient or initial, in development or in consolidation?

The maker movement, during this first period of confinement by COVID-19, has revealed itself as a collaborative movement with immediate and highly effective solutions, in such a way that the image that a part of society could have of the maker movement is «a group of geeks». But more than ever, the solutions provided by this movement in all its forms (3D printing, sewing, mechanical assembly groups, etc.), have been essential to improve the quality of life for many and many people. An applause!

• Do you think we have significant groups of expertise in STE(A)M education in Catalonia ?

Yes, definitely! Personally, I have rediscovered a group of technology teachers from all over Catalonia, who have turned to offer their tools, their material, their time and their know-how to help organize a project like Telecomunicat.cat. Through this project, mobile devices are supplied to people affected by COVID-19 in public hospitals in Catalonia, to support health personnel and that there are no missing vents, supports for masks, safety screens or other items. And I say «rediscovered» because I already knew a good part of the things they did, but I have verified their ability to make immediate, creative proposals, redesign elements, etc. This teaching team are the best STE(A)M references that we have right now. We have a lot of talent and many expert people among our technology teachers!

• Has the demand and interest of the teaching community on these topics been growing?

Inevitably yes. There has been a lot of curiosity to know how robots that can make 2,400 PCR tests a day or ASSUM devices that sterilize sanitary spaces have been designed and manufactured, with the collaboration of people from all over the world to take them to the hospitals of Catalonia. This curiosity has led to the emergence of groups like Covidwarriors.org. It was time!

• Do you think that the teaching teams have enough resources?

With what we have done so far, we have enough to do initial training in technology at schools. Now, after which we have seen and lived, ICTs have been the undeniable protagonists to guarantee communication and to avoid the isolation of society in this situation of confinement, therefore, ICT terminology that was not common to society now is. In any case, what we have lacked more is resources rather than knowledge… We have adapted to virtual classes, to guarantee virtual learning scenarios, to convert practical content into digital, but it is not very useful if our students can not access.  The digital gap has revealed that not everyone has the same opportunities. This has been the main inconvenience for teachers.

• How do you value the training of teachers on the subject? And the quality of the projects that are presented from the different centres?

There are teachers who have a lot of and very good training because they have been organizing activities for years like Robolot, Roboresme, Robotseny, Tramuntec, technology fairs, Mercatec, etc. and have offered to do «not expert» teacher training. What we have also detected is that a part of the teachers have not felt like adapting. Those who wanted to train, have found training scenarios, created by colleagues, like CESIRE network. We can say that we will start 2020-21 course with a «renewed» teacher team in technological skills (who wanted to renew them, naturally). But I am afraid that the scope of activities carried out by public school teachers has had a very diverse reception by students, because it has been subject to the abilities and resources of the students (availability of PCs or tablets, WIFI availability …). Again I refer to the fact that the digital gap has been very marked.

• What strategies do you think can best serve to extend and broaden the reach of this movement and resources within the educational community?

That teachers know that what they propose can be done and that their students can enjoy it. And let them know that they can count on the support of their centres. I think teachers who have spent more time and hours preparing material, training, supporting, etc., should be recognized for that.

• Do you think that this type of activities, projects and experiences can serve to democratize access to technology, or is there a risk of generating elitist spaces of exclusivity?

On the one hand, the situation has let clear that there is a (large) part of the technology that is much more accessible than it might seem, and we can enjoy impressive ICT offers. This has allowed us to stay connected, in a fairly globalized way, and the appearance of devices that require little to function (open software, free software, open platforms) have contributed to democratizing part of this technology. But, of course, there is still a perception that technology, and studies related to technology and engineering, are elitist. And it should be emphasized that this perception is totally wrong and out of place. In the past, engineers were important gentlemen, with ties, who made a lot of money (or much more than factory workers), but there were also many people who did «magic» without wearing a tie (and without collecting the salaries of the gentlemen). I mean by this that engineering and technology is present in many jobs and tasks from our day to day. We need TECH talent in all these areas, with diversity, with parity, with all kinds of points of view.

• Did you think that this theme helps or hinders gender work (and the gap) within technical-scientific vocations?

Yes, inevitably an important gender gap is generated. Girls are more attracted to vocations more linked to «saving the world», and do not perceive that technology means too to «save the world». On the other hand, boys (and I speak in general, no one takes it badly) are attracted by initiatives more related to leisure, competitiveness, etc. If a girl says she likes cars, there are still people who don’t see it as something normalized. This, in the middle of the XXI century, causes female vocations to be lost from the beginning of the formative stage. On the other hand, if any examples of technology will be applied to quality of life (health, medicine, etc.), many girls (and boys) would receive the message and incorporate it. Early childhood and primary education is key in this «recruitment of talent».

• Comparing with experiences and realities of the countries of our environment at an international level, what do you think is the role of Catalonia within the international maker movement? Do you think that the projects carried out here have recognition and sufficient visibility abroad?

Personally, I believe that we can talk «from you to you» with international makers of recognized prestige. I have visited FABLABs in Berkeley and Cambridge, and we have nothing to envy from our FABLABs. I think we have the capacity, skills and talent perfectly comparable to that of others maker communities that have recognition because they have visibility. We still need a recognition of talent in our country. Catalonia can become a pioneer in this impulse of the talented community, with recognition and giving it the value it deserves. We can do it!

• Any project, resource or experience that you want to highlight?

I have said that the experience of Telecomunicat.cat has been very enriching for me during this first confinement by COVID-19. We saw that we could organize more than 80 people from all areas and TECH-ICT profiles that they didn’t know each other who knew each other and we accepted a fairly horizontal organization chart of people to move forward all together. It has been exciting! We have worked a lot, we have spent many hours, but it was worth it to see some image like a mother who could see her baby through a mobile phone. Technology has helped a lot in this terrible situation.

By Colectic

Francesc Rambla is a technical engineer in telecommunications. He has worked for more than twenty years as a consultant in the field of information and communication technologies, both in the public and private sectors, an activity that he has combined with teaching. Since 2005 he has been working for the Generalitat of Catalonia as a Technician in charge of technological vocation projects to promote technological vocations, educational technologies and free software. Our partner Colectic spoke with him about the situation of the maker movement and STE(A)M education in Catalonia.

•  What is the situation of maker movement and STE(A)M education in Catalonia, in your opinion – initial, incipient, in development, or in consolidation?

There is always a room for improvement but I think that in Catalonia there is a very wide consolidated offer of extracurricular and leisure STE(A)M activities. This offer is often particularly focused on the field of educational robotics, which, in many cases, incorporates a maker component. This means that other STE(A)M disciplines, such as biology, chemistry, mathematics or certain branches of physics, are under-represented in this offer and, as a consequence, although these activities have a very convinced audience, it is difficult to expand it.

On the other hand, the reality is that Catalonia is very diverse and that this offer is not uniform everywhere. There are still many regions where the only possibility to access this offer is through online proposals or specific activities that are offered, very often, to the orbit of educational centers. So I think we are not bad, but could be much better.

• Which strategies do you think can best serve to extend the scope of this movement in Catalonia?

In my opinion, the different specialties are essential to extend these proposals to a wider audience. Announcing a workshop or an activity with the word «robotics» immediately generates the rejection from a part of the target audience. All the experts tell us that STE(A)M activities have to be introduced through contextualized proposals in aspects that interest or concern young people and children.

For example, if we propose an «Underwater Robotics» workshop, we will attract a very convinced audience, but if we contextualize this workshop and call it «Let’s save the sea! We build robots to eliminate plastics», surely we can attract a part of the public that otherwise wouldn’t come close.

In any case, this means that the conceptualization and design of the proposals is more complex and, therefore, more expensive. It is not enough to have a beautiful idea, you have to work on it, adapt it to different ages, social contexts, have trained personnel specialized in social stimulation, but also in STE(A)M subjects. Wow, all this is not easy!

• Do we have leading initiatives in Catalonia on STE(A)M? Any project, resource or experience that you want to highlight in this respect?

 We do have expert groups that offer relevant activities and proposals, but, unfortunately, it becomes very difficult to make them grow and reach a wider audience. I will cite two initiatives from different disciplines, which, despite being successful, we cannot consider them to be benchmarks because the impact they achieve is small.

The first is the Museum of Mathematics of Catalonia (MMACA). It is an infrastructure managed by a teachers’ association that is economically viable, that has an offer for teachers, for families and for compulsory education school groups.

However, it has collapsed. Every year it receives about 40,000 students and cannot accept more! This represents only 4% of the students in public education. It would be ideal for students to be able to work on mathematics with the strategies presented to the MMACA, not one day in the course, but at least one day a week throughout the course. Surely, in a few years, such an action would show results.

The other initiative that I would like to show in value is the Technovation Challenge. This proposal is important, because it is for girls. The idea is that girls develop an entrepreneurship project around a mobile application that responds to a social concern that they have detected themselves.

The activity includes all the ingredients to lead it to success: interdisciplinarity (it is fundamentally technological in nature, but has communicative, aesthetic, social components, etc,), the ideas of the participants themselves when looking for a problem, lack or need to solve or cover, and, finally, the possibility that this initiative materialized in real applications.

All of this makes this initiative a success, but it reaches a not very significant part of the school-age population and has a low impact.

• The Government of Catalonia is leading through initiatives such as Bitbot.cat. What do you think are the strengths and weaknesses of this initiative? Creus that is exportable to other countries, especially considering those of the European Union? Do you use any platform or channel to share and dialogue with other outside communities?

Bitbot is an initiative that we launched four years ago to promote the extracurricular offer of programming activities and educational robotics. The name of the initiative plays with the terms ‘bit’ (basic unit of information and basis of binary computing) and ‘bot’ (contraction of the term robot). We chose this name because, in addition to the meaning we can give it, we thought it conveyed something fun and attractive for children.

Bitbot consists of three lines of work: the catalog of extracurricular programming and educational robotics activities in Catalonia, the training programme for monitors of this type of activities and, finally, a set of dissemination actions. The objectives of Bitbot are to improve children’s digital competence and, through an approach to the world of technology, to seek new technological vocations.

It is evident that participation in educational robotics and programming workshops opens a window, that of computational thinking, which otherwise very often remains closed. In this sense, the program may not improve digital competence, but it certainly complements it.

Regarding vocations, given that the public of the programme is between 8 and 14 years old, it is still too early to see the fruits, but we are convinced that the people who have participated continuously in these activities topics, they will have a sensitivity towards technology in the future.

Bitbot is easily exportable in other countries or contexts, despite the fact that in each case it would have to be evaluated which are the most appropriate lines of work and what the best way to carry them out.

The Generalitat of Catalonia, through the Departments of Digital Policies and Public Administration, and of Education, is part of the EU STEM Coalition, which is a meeting space in which public administrations, platforms and universities from various member states of the EU.

• Do you think that STE(A)M helps or hinders the work (and the gender gap) in technical-scientific vocations?

Before answering this question, I try to explain what I understand by ‘STEM’ and ‘STE(A)M’, because this will help me later to develop the answer.

In my view, when we talk about STE(A)M we refer to the set of strategies or methodologies to work within the educational field (formal or non-formal) of mathematics, scientific and technological subjects, in an integrated way – that is, STEM subjects. There is no unanimity in the meaning of ‘A’ in STE(A)M, it is often attributed to «Arts», but I like a more holistic conception and I attribute the concept «all» to it, in the sense that any other subject is good for STEM work.

Following this view, which does not have to be shared, there is a set of studies and professions that we could fit within the STEM concept, while any study or profession would be within STE(A)M field.

This is the reason why it is very difficult for me to pose, from the point of view of the gender gap, all STEM studies or professions, because the data tell us that the casuistry is very heterogeneous. In Catalonia, for example, while in ICT studies the percentage of girls is around 10%, in biological sciences studies it is above 65%.

In any case, as I have already said when referring to extracurricular activities, a good STE(A)M strategy is essential to promote vocations and, because it is a good strategy, learning all subjects has to be done. It should be done in an integrated way and in an understandable context. Otherwise, we will end up repeating the same errors and obtaining the same results.

• Do you think that this type of activities, projects and experiences can serve to democratize access to technology or, on the other hand, is there a risk of generating elitist exclusivity spaces?

I think that the most effective way to guarantee universal access to technology is through compulsory education and, at least in our case, free education. Any other strategy, project or initiative can also help reach the public, but carries a high risk of worsening the social and economic gap.

• What is the role that the culture of the commons can play in these initiatives? Do you know the Catalan initiatives related to STE(A)M and the commons?

Throughout this interview I have been thinking about the importance of contextualizing learning to reach a wider audience. I am convinced that this is the key.

Developing interdisciplinary pedagogical proposals, for different levels and rhythms of learning, designing the evaluation and establishing the links with the basic competences that all citizens should have, is very difficult and, therefore, very expensive. It is an iterative, trial and error process that, from my point of view, is available to very few people.

The world of the commons and free knowledge has shown that co-creation works. Projects such as GNU / Linux or Viquipèdia are examples, therefore, my opinion is that we must work in this line in the construction of educational proposals.

Later, if necessary, publishers will come to package them and offer them in print or embedded in digital platforms, but the collective effort to build them has to remain accessible and public. The best guarantee to achieve this are open and free licenses.

There are some initiatives that promote the publication of proposals with free licenses, generally creative-commons, but I think this is not enough. You have to offer support so that other people can contribute and help improve them.

In this sense, I would highlight a proposal that is developed within the framework of mSchools, a programme to bring mobile technologies closer to education of the Mobile World Capital Barcelona Foundation that is developed in collaboration with the Generalitat of Catalonia, the Barcelona City Council and the GSMA.

EduHack is being developed within mSchools, an initiative that proposes a co-creation process based on the Design-Thinking methodology to build educational proposals. These proposals are documented and published under free and open licenses. From my point of view, the only downside to this proposal is that it is not yet critical enough and this makes it difficult for there to be a large community to iterate and refine the proposals.

By Colectic

As a result of research and creative techniques that will be instrumental among the members of the community, the STE(A)M education framework will include competences, policies, methodologies, and educational objects.

In line with the STEAMonEdu project, this first version of the guide is also intended to fuel discussion among our community members, providing them with examples, ideas and a baseline for benchmarking their own practices and projects.

The aim is to summarize and evaluate good and not so good STE(A)M education practices, based on local and regional initiatives that support STEM and STE(A)M education.

The online platform

From the beginning of the project, the STEAMonEdu community members could join an online platform where good practices have been collected. Any person interested in joining the community can check it out and register.

The online community will be open during and after the project. It is a very useful tool to share and learn about other’s educational experiences.

25 evaluation criteria and principles that characterize a STE(A)M practice

The STEAMonEdu project refers to a “Good practice” such training and education initiatives that are built and implemented by schools, NGOs, and any education provider, incorporating some principles, including inclusive STEAM education, problem-based learning or integrated learning system.

Also, at the beginning of the project, partners agreed on 25 evaluation criteria based upon the principles listed in the previous section. Each criterium has been scored from 0 (not valuable) to 3 (good), the maximum score attainable by a  practice being then 75. Practices scoring over 65 are considered best practices.

Moreover, to be considered a STE(A)M practice, the practice should include Arts among the disciplines involved.

A list of educational and policies practices

Up to this moment, the platform has collected around 65 educational practices and 18 policies and any kind of implementations in the context of STE(A)M education.

The educational practice was split in five parts, to facilitate information input:

1. General Info, which includes the basic data of the practice, namely, title, language, abstract, STE(A)M area/topic of use in the practice, key terms, license information and any related source.
2. Author, presenting the leading author’s name, capacity and affiliation, together with names of any co-authors.
3. Audience and Educational Framework, where the characteristics of the targeting audience are provided (capacity, age range, competence) as well as the educational framework where this practice was designed and/or used for.
4. Educational Details, where the specific data of the practice are provided, i.e. the teaching topic where the practice was applied, its duration, difficulty, learning outcomes and specific use, the orientation/focus, the delivery mode, the pedagogical theory/mode/strategy followed, the necessary resources to be applied, and a full textual description that can be accompanied by any resources (documents or URLs).
5. Implementation, that is used to record data regarding the application of the practice, such as the country and organization, the type of education and audience size as well as details about the evaluation (if any) and the lessons learned by the application.

Similarly, educational policies are uploaded by the project partners that we can can organized in three parts:

1. General Info, which includes all the primary fields of interest that provide the identity of the practice, namely, the title, language, purpose, the key terms, the country and authority that issued the policy and a source (text or URL) that points to the original policy.
2. Applicability and audience, which includes specific information of the target audience, the coverage (applicability area) and the educational framework that the policy was created for.
3. Details, which allows a brief or extensive description of the policy (reason, implementation procedures, implementation structures, definitions) as well as monitoring and evaluation that is applied, related policies and the help desk (cognizant office) that can provide further details, if necessary.

We invite you to view it and delve into the contents of the guide, to participate in the forums discussion and to upload your contents! Let’s make the community!

By Colectic

The ByLinedu Association is a Valencian organization that works to help reduce the digital divide  with STE(A)M activities and projects for digital literacy and educational innovation. We explain some of their projects.

Learning and having fun using technology is the main motto of ByLinedu, which has been working for eight years on educational NGO projects that use technology as a tool for social transformation.

One of such projects is the CodeDojo Valencia, an international initiative that promotes the learning of programming for children and young people between 7 and 17 years old. With the motto «Be cool!«, this network is made up of more than 1,000 CodeDojos in 65 countries. It is an open and free initiative, where they seek to promote the training of minors (whom they call ninjas) with the participation of adults, whether they are parents or volunteer mentors.

In this dojo, the ninjas learn how to program, develop websites, mobile applications or video games using applications adapted to different ages: Scratch, AppInventor, Arduino, HTML, Javascript, etc, as well as different electronic elements. They also have a CoderDojo Girls group for the participation of STE(A)M girls. The children work through observation, quizzes, various worksheets and interest groups with different sessions where challenges arise. The participants are advised by the different mentors, who collaborate by transmitting their knowledge and experience.

Another of its projects is the European Erasmus+ Make In Class project, which aims to help STE(A)M teachers and educators to promote activities in the classroom based on maker culture to prevent school dropouts.

Related to this project, there is also an Erasmus+ STEAM-H, a programme improving STE(A)M learning in primary schools to support teachers and educators to improve student learning.

And since technology has to be fun, they have created the game Oca STEM, a game of the goose board in which men and women experts in different fields of STE(A)M knowledge are represented. The game aims to be inclusive so that people with functional disabilities can participate fully, integrating audio-video phrases, textured dice and / or Braille, as well as texts and multimedia elements.

In 2018 they finished the Parcheesi board for the Escornarbot robot,and this year it has received the 1st Spiral Award Trends in Perspective.

By Colectic

El 2.º Congreso de Competencias Digitales fue el marco perfecto, el pasado 18 de febrero, para el taller dirigido a personas educadoras con el objetivo de reflexionar sobre la educación STEAM. Se presentó el proyecto STEAMonEdu y el marco de competencias digitales STEAM, que se sometió a discusión en este contexto, aprovechando la convocatoria facilitada por ACTIC y el Departamento de Políticas Digitales y de la Administración Pública.

El taller “Las competencias digitales STEAM para personas educadoras y formadoras”  reunió treinta y cuatro personas educadoras del territorio catalán para profundizar sobre el concepto de la educación STEAM. Esther Subias, manager del proyecto, y Pep Oliveras, educador STEAM y coordinador de Colectic, dinamizaron un taller centrado en el marco de competencias para los profesionales que implementan STEAM en las aulas y establecer, entre las personas asistentes, las prioridades en la formación de estos profesionales de manera colaborativa, especialmente en tiempo de pandemia de la Covid-19.

Este encuentro sirvió para comprobar de manera directa el valor del proyecto STEAMonEdu y su comunidad de práctica que incorpora personas educadoras interesadas en el enfoque de las STEAM en la docencia y facilita que estas puedan reflexionar y contribuir activamente al desarrollo del marco.

 Colectic

El CEB (Consorcio de Educación de Barcelona) es un instrumento de cogestión y descentralización, en un marco de colaboración institucional, que representa la voluntad de la Generalitat de Cataluña y el Ayuntamiento de Barcelona de trabajar plegados para la mejora de los servicios en los centros educativos y a la ciudadanía a través de una única red educativa. Hablamos con Susana Navarro Jiménez, referente de programas de innovación educativa, en los ámbitos STEAM y sostenibilidad del CEB y Rosanna Fernandez, directora del área de innovación, programas y formación sobre las líneas estratégicas y y las iniciativas STEAM que se impulsan en la ciudad de Barcelona.

¿Qué proyectos realizáis en STEAMCat dentro del campo de las tecnologías para el aprendizaje y el conocimiento?

El programa de innovación pedagògia STEAMcat es un programa educativo, promovido por el departamento de Eduació, que tiene una duración de tres años. Este programa se despliega por todo lo territorio catalán y, des des Consorcio de Educación de Barcelona participan 8 centros, que acaban este curso después de haber participado los 3 años.

A banda, en la ciudad de Barcelona hay otros programas y propuestas educativas enmarcadas en el ámbito STEAM. Estos son de diferente duración e intensidad, dirigidas a diferentes etapas educativas e impulsadas por diferentes entidades. La oferta ha aumentado considerablemente durante los últimos 3 años, así como la demanda de los centros educativos.

¿El enfoque STEAM tiene que ser transversal o una especialización específica?

Desde el CEB, consideramos que el ideal es que se trabaje de forma transversal y global, aprovechando situaciones contextualizadas y reales para trabajar las Ciencias, la Tecnología, la Ingeniería, las Artes y las Matemáticas.

El aprendizaje competencial persigue que el alumnado sea capaz de aplicar sus conocimientos para resolver problemas y retos en contextos diferentes de su vida. Las situaciones nunca están cerradas a un único ámbito del conocimiento, sino que las soluciones a las mismas son el resultado de la emulsión de diferentes ámbitos del conocimiento. Ayudar a nuestro alumnado a utilizar su conocimiento de forma holística, bajo el pretexto  que éste es global y multifactorial, es uno de los objetivos del aprendizaje competencial.

En esta línea, uno de las principales ventajas de trabajar las STEAM de forma transversal es que el alumnado puede experimentar como se trabaja en la vida real para dar respuesta a los retos que nos plantea la ciencia y la tecnología: todos los proyectos de esta naturaleza se desarrollan a partir del trabajo de un equipo mutidisciplinar que se complementa. La base de su tarea es la cooperación y la compartición de conocimientos con el ánimo de lograr el mismo objetivo.

¿Cuáles son los éxitos de la comunidad STEAM en Barcelona? Podéis comentar algunos indicadores y retos?

Hace unos años las materias se trabajaban de forma separada y no se planteaba trabajar de forma colaborativa entre las diferentes disciplinas. Muchas instituciones, entidades, administraciones y universidades empezaron a ofrecer nuevas formas de aprendizaje a través de las STEAM, pero estas llegaban de forma desordenada y sin demasiada coherencia. Desde el CEB vimos la necesidad de canalizar la oferta, de analizar las necesidades, de aprovechar recursos y de compartir lenguaje y significados con las diferentes instituciones y administraciones implicadas. Por eso, se organizaron unos encuentros mensuales con los diferentes agentes, para construir un mapa de oferta de la ciudad y crear un plan STEAM de acción global.

La demanda de los centros educativos ha aumentado exponencialmente y es por eso que nuestro objetivo es ofrecer propuestas basadas en las necesidades reales, como por ejemplo, trabajar las vocaciones científicas en etapas más tempranas, que se cuando se definen las vocaciones.

¿Se hacen acciones formativas dirigidas al profesorado que quiere trabajar las STEAM?

Sí. Desde el Departamento de Educación hay una línea de formación STEAM que se inició hace más de 10 años. A destacar la formación CTM (Ciencias, Tecnología y Matemáticas) que nació con la mirada de trabajar las STEAM de manera transversal y por proyectos. Los y las docentes del Consorcio de Educación de Barcelona, como parte del Departamento de Educación, también tenían la opción de cursar esta formación de 3 años. Se podría decir que la formación CTM fue el pistoletazo de salida para el diseño y la implementación de otras muchas formaciones de este ámbito del conocimiento.

Al CEB hay dos líneas de oferta de formación STEAM destacadas: una que tiene que ver con el hecho que la mayoría de los programas educativos de la convocatoria unificada de programas del Consorcio ofrecen formación a los docentes responsables de implementarlos en las aulas. Uno de los ámbitos de la convocatoria unificada de programas es el ámbito STEAM, que a día de hoy cuenta con una oferta de 10 programas educativos por centros de primaria y secundaria. Paralelamente, desde los centros de recursos de la ciudad de Barcelona se oferten formaciones de centro englobadas en el ámbito STEAM y diseñadas a medida según las necesidades y lo PEC del centro educativo.

¿Cómo funcionan los Centros de recursos pedagógicos y como se trabajan competencias STEAM como la robótica, la fabricación digital, las redes sociales o la soberanía tecnológica?

El principal objetivo de los centros de recursos pedagógicos es acompañar en los centros educativos en su proceso de mejora hacia la transformación educativa de los centros. Desde hace años se realizan seminarios de cultura digital en los que se ha trabajado sobre todo la robótica, el trabajo colaborativo y el uso de dispositivos móviles. También desde los CRPs se han dinamizado programas como el Congreso de Ciencia, dirigido a la primaria y en el que se pone el foco en la metodología científica y en el alumnado como protagonista. La clave de este programa es el acompañamiento al profesorado por parte de los técnicos de los CRPs, así como el vínculo con la comunidad científica.

¿En qué consiste el programa pedagógico de los Ateneos de Fabricación dirigidos al alumnado y al profesorado?

El objetivo del Programa Educativo de los Ateneos de Fabricación es aproximar la fabricación digital al alumnado y profesorado a través de la utilización de esta para resolver necesidades reales de su entorno poniendo el foco en el proceso de aprendizaje, diseño y fabricación más que en el producto final.

Se desarrollan proyectos que ponen en práctica la creatividad, investigación, experimentación y el aprendizaje significativo tanto del alumnado como del profesorado. Se apuesta porque sean interdisciplinarios, que ofrezcan al alumnado la oportunidad de ir de la idea al objeto aplicando contenidos curriculares de las diferentes áreas y competencias personales y de aprendizaje que promuevan el éxito escolar, la innovación educativa, la competencia tecnológica y la orientación profesional.

¿Cómo os imagináis que se trabajarán las STEAM en los centros educativos en el futuro?

Nos imaginamos que los centros trabajan de forma holística y real todos los aprendizajes, por lo tanto ya no se hablaría de STEAM probablemente. La tendencia es el trabajo por competencias, y no por materias.

 Colectic