Women who decide with science

Science and gender equality are essential for sustainable development. Even so, women continue to encounter obstacles in the field of science, since less than 30% are scientific researchers in the world, and despite the fact that women access university degrees more, they have priority over careers associated with care, and they do not access postgraduate studies in equal measure.  

The solution seeks to work on gender equality, stimulate girls and young women interest in science and develop STEM skills, through workshops and content based on the stories and contributions of women to science, and developed under the methodology of EAFIT Children's University. The intention is that girls and young women can imagine alternative life projects and acquire tools to make them come true, as well as directly influence their territories. 

In Colombia and Latin America, as in other parts of the world, girls and young women face psychological and social barriers associated with gender stereotypes and that are reinforced in domestic and daily environments such as school and the media, where they find few models of women in non-traditional roles.  

These barriers influence their self-perception, their academic performance and the decisions they make, which is evidenced, among other things, in lower results in standardized tests of mathematics, and in the choice of professional careers. Taking figures from Antioquia-Colombia, it is found that women choose careers associated with care, such as health sciences (69%) or social sciences (63%), in a higher proportion than careers in engineering (32%) or natural sciences (49%), the latter being those that usually have a higher remuneration.  

Thus, the life projects of girls and young women, based on these barriers and stereotypes, end up relegating them to roles traditionally considered as feminine, and minimizing their participation in solving public problems. This translates into less job opportunities, greater economic dependency and less possibilities of intervening in the generation of knowledge and in the development of their territories. 

EAFIT Children's University develops active learning experiences in science topics in which girls and young women from Medellin and other municipalities of Antioquia participate. These experiences, based on play, experimentation, questions and conversation, and mediated by technology, allow girls and young women to expand their curiosity and desire to learn, appropriate knowledge and tools of science for their daily lives and learn inspiring stories of women researchers. 

Scaling this model to other territories in Colombia and Latin America, with an emphasis on rurality, would inspire more girls and young women to dream of a different future in which they see themselves as managers of changes in their territory and their communities, and in which science and research can be the engine for social change and a better quality of life. 

To achieve this, we will adapt and develop content and challenges to the territories, involving women of science who can be close references for girls and young women, and using communication technologies as a means and strategy to reach a larger audience, taking into account the limitations of access of each territory. The contents will be mediated by a team of mediators in person and remotely, using different channels. 

The solution focuses on girls and young women from 8 to 17 years of age from urban, peri-urban or rural settings, who are immersed in contexts where traditional gender stereotypes persist, assigning women to caregiving and home roles, limiting the possibilities of developing STEM skills and to exercise roles that have a greater influence on the decisions of their territories and communities. 

The experience of the EAFIT Children's University working with this public, in Medellín and in other municipalities of Antioquia, has made it possible to demonstrate a desire of adolescent girls to learn and contribute to social development that is often silenced by traditional educational methods and that the methodology of the program allows to awaken and empower, making available to these young tools and supplies, from science, that give them the security to express and argue what they feel and think. 

Additionally, the program has found strategies to give voice to this public in the discussions of fundamental issues for society, but also in the design of the educational experiences that the program offers, attending to their wishes and needs. 

Solution seeks to increase the number of girls and young women from vulnerable contexts, who participate in informal education experiences in appropriation of science, under an active learning model that strengthens STEM skills, and allows reducing social barriers that prevent them to improve their school performance and imagine a life project in which science and research are tools to contribute to solving problems in their community from a leadership role beyond the home. To achieve this, it relies on technology as a means to facilitate interaction and access to educational experiences, addressing the access and connectivity barriers of some communities. 

EAFIT Children's University is recognized for working under its own and innovative methodology that starts from play, experimentation, questions and conversation to give participants an active role in their own learning process, and which has proven to be successful to raise new questions, develop critical thinking and motivate children and adolescents to play a more active role in their families and communities. 

In addition, having a university as a base, allows the program to develop content based on the knowledge that researchers are producing in real time, as well as to promote conversations between them and the children and adolescents participating in the program, generating learning experiences that go in two ways and enrich both. 

Although there are other programs or entities that develop STEM educational experiences, the methodology of the EAFIT Children's University has proven to be innovative in its way of translating specialized knowledge into learning experiences where participants are protagonists, even in their remote and technology-based strategies, a context in which it has become more challenging for educational processes to maintain the interest of children and adolescents. 

Likewise, the program has developed the capacity to facilitate the relationship between children, adolescents and researchers, giving each one an important place in the conversation. Finally, EAFIT Children's University starts from a science concept in a broad sense in which STEMs are closely related to the social and human sciences, allowing a critical perspective and contextualized learning that contributes to the solution of problems of the society. 

EAFIT Children's University began its work in 2005 with the development of face-to-face workshops on the University campus, and over the years it developed new technology-based strategies to expand the possibility of accessing science content from diverse audiences. 

COVID19 has put the program in a scenario that has forced it to take all its strategies, which were currently operating in Medellín and neighboring municipalities, to a virtual and remote learning modality. This situation has allowed piloting a technology-based strategy, making use of diverse means and taking into account barriers to access to technological tools and connectivity, especially in peri-urban and rural contexts. 

Audiovisual media, social media, podcasts, applications for interaction and joint construction, telephone strategies and adaptations with easy-to-find materials at home to experiment with virtual and augmented reality applications and other science topics, are some examples of Technology-based experiences that have allowed EAFIT Children's University to continue to inspire children and adolescents during this contingency, and which have the potential to bring the impact of the program and its experience to audiences in other regions and countries. It has also allowed families to be linked in the processes, which is fundamental, since they influence the psychological and social barriers that girls and young women perceive. 

At EAFIT Children's University, a program with 15 years of experience and awarded by Red Pop in 2017, that fosters the approach of boys, girls and young people to the scientific knowledge produced at the university, there is a portfolio of workshops on human, social, natural, exact and applied science topics, aimed at institutions interested in offering experiences for the social appropriation of knowledge.  

In 2020, through COVID 19, the EAFIT Children's University has transformed its workshops, connecting children and adolescents virtually through booklets, virtual meetings and conversations with researchers with audiovisual media. These contents have had 2442 online visits and 801 reproductions of informative and scientific content by children and adolescents. 

Additionally, since 2018, 21 radio programs have been developed in science, current affairs and entertainment involving children and adolescents, in which conversations have been held with researchers from the city on topics such as sustainability, gender, ingenuity, health and safety.  

These strategies have been received in a very positive way, which is evidenced in the high participation of families, children and adolescents and in their testimonies of the process. 

According to gender studies, the low performance of women in science and the lower participation of women in scientific careers is related to psychological (González-Jiménez, 2019), cultural (González-Jiménez, 2006) and social factors (Cerda-Etchepare & Vera-Sagredo, 2019) linked to stereotypes that impose on them a supposed lower capacity for logical and abstract thinking.  

Therefore, it makes sense to assume that educational methodologies designed to strengthen the emotional bond between students and Science (González-Jiménez, 2019), reinforce the self-esteem and self-confidence of students (Cerda-Etchepare and Vera-Sagredo, 2019) and stimulate the interest of students in Knowledge (Abad, Jaramillo-Escobar & Posada-Saldarriaga, 2014) could help to reverse this situation. 

In the case of the EAFIT Children's University, an evaluation with external researchers and the ICFES (Colombian Institute for the Promotion of Higher Education), found that the girls who participated in the program presented better results (in general, and compared to boys), especially in mathematics, which reverses the general trend. This document is in the editorial process and has not been published so far. 

In addition, quality evaluations, based on focus groups and interviews with participants and some of their teachers and parents, have shown that EAFIT Children’s University methodology fosters curiosity, stimulates interest in science, reinforces self-confidence and allows girls and young women to develop social, communicational and cognitive skills such as team working, communicating their ideas clearly and using knowledge and questions to develop projects of their own. 

Taking all this into account, solution is expected to produce the following changes: 

Short term: girls and young women strengthen their curiosity and interest in basic and applied science subjects and their security in these subjects. 

Medium term: girls and young women strengthen scientific skills that allow them to improve their quality of life and that of their families 

Long-term: participants and their families question the roles associated with gender, identifying new possibilities in their life projects, which translates into that some young women access opportunities for the continuity of their education in the tertiary cycle and increases the percentage of women who choose exact and applied science professions which contributes to solving problems in their communities. 

Currently: 1,350  

In one year: 2,400  

In five years: 10,000 

EAFIT Children's University is a program with 15 years of history in the development of educational experiences for children, youth and mediators. Its impact has been largely limited to the city of Medellín and its surroundings due to budgetary limitations, since its capital comes mainly from the EAFIT University. In 2014, the program decides that the methodology developed can have an impact on many more children and youth, and creates a project area to develop new strategies with external resources. Currently the program carries out every year, in addition to its regular activities on campus, other educational strategies with external resources achieving a greater impact. 

In the next year, the program hopes to develop projects with external resources for a value equivalent to the activities they carry out on campus, doubling the audience that would normally impact. Additionally, it hopes to continue carrying out processes of transferring its methodology to both teachers and other universities and entities that allow the educational experiences that the program develops to impact an even greater audience, becoming a national benchmark in the development of active learning experiences for the appropriation of scientific knowledge. 

In five years, the program hopes to be a benchmark at the Latin American level and have partners in other countries in the region that implement its methodology impacting the lives of more children and adolescents, and generating knowledge networks based on the use of technology as a means of transcending geographic and cultural barriers. 

In financial terms, EAFIT Children's University faces several barriers that have so far prevented it from growing further and broadening its impact. The first of them has to do with the fact that their financial resources are limited because they come mainly from EAFIT University, a private, non-profit institution. 

The second financial barrier is related to the difficulty of attracting resources of private origin in Colombia, since the investment made by private companies in the country in issues of social responsibility is limited and few of them focus their efforts on issues of communication of the science, being a subject that is hardly gaining relevance in the country. 

Regarding the raising of public resources, the barrier has to do with the logic of these funds being highly variable and associated with changes in local and national governments, hindering the continuity of the processes. 

There is also a technical barrier to take the program to other territories in Colombia and Latin America, and it is the high cost associated with the replication of face-to-face activities such as those carried out on the University campus. 

Finally, there is the barrier associated with the difficulty of explaining what makes the program unique, since being an own and innovative methodology, it is sometimes difficult to describe what differentiates it from others to make evident its value proposition. 

To overcome its barriers in financial terms and to broaden its impact, the team of the EAFIT Children's University has been training in the identification of calls and sources of financing and the formulation of project proposals. In this way, it is hoped to also be able to access resources from international organizations interested in supporting the causes and problems that the program addresses. For this, it also has the support of the project formulation and execution team of the Discovery and Creation Vice-Rectory of EAFIT University and the University's Office of International Relations. 

To overcome the technological barrier associated with the costs of carrying out the face-to-face modality in other territories, the program has come working to strengthen its technology-based actions, expanding the possibilities of reaching more distant territories in a more economic way and with results very similar to those of presentiality. 

In terms of the difficulty in explaining and evidencing the program's value proposition, it has come working hand in hand with the Discovery and Creation Vice-Rectory, and with the support of other agencies, in the manner described in the program and its portfolio of services. 

EAFIT Children's University is a program created and partially financed by EAFIT University and functions as a unit within it, associated with the Discovery and Creation Vice-Rectory. EAFIT University is a private, non-profit institution of higher education. 

Full time: 14 people  

Practitioners: 2 people 

Monitors and workshops: 80 (students who work voluntarily or receive financial aid for their support to the program) 

EAFIT Children's University (awarded in 2017 by Red Pop) has a history of 15 years in developing active learning experiences that involve face-to-face and virtual workshops, production and dissemination of multimedia content (magazine, club series, radio program, website), development of projects a measurement and advice on issues of Social Appropriation of Knowledge, participation in national and international networks on related issues, and training and support for teachers and the educational system. 

Therefore, the team has diverse knowledge related to education, communication, dissemination and appropriation of science, learning methodologies and public relations. Additionally, it has the backing of researchers (mostly with a doctorate) from EAFIT University, who provide advice on specific topics of need. Participation in national and international networks allows a constant dialogue to be generated regarding what to do in the organization, and to keep up-to-date in the media. 

Over 15 years, more than 3,200 children have been served through workshops conducted directly at the university, where each child can participate for up to 8 consecutive years in the program. Approximately 55% of these children are girls, who have actively participated in the program, and who have shown better results in standardized tests, especially in mathematics, in relation to their peers who have not participated in the program, and in in relation to boys, who tend to have better performances. 

The Children's University is part of EAFIT University, which in addition to providing the knowledge produced academically, provides administrative and institutional support for the program. 

EAFIT Children's University during these 15 years has carried out projects in alliance with other entities on science and education issues at local, regional, national and international levels. One of these projects is Phereclos, which aims to create the articulation of the school system with the state, business, formal and non-formal educational sectors. The allies of this initiative, financed by the European Commission, are, at the international level, 16 children's universities in Europe, and at the local level, Fundación Sura, Low Carbon City, Comfama, Proantioquia, Colegio San Marcos, Library Mouse, Institution Educativa San Marcos, Nuestra Gente, Cefa and Ciudad Don Bosco, companies that are located in the city of Medellín and that meet the objective of the project. 

Institutions such as Colciencias, Network of Music Schools of Medellín, Municipality of Itagüí, Secretary of Education of Medellín, Secretary of District Education of Bogotá, Colciencias, the Government of Antioquia and Ruta N, have financed other projects that involve children and young girls and boys to converse and create knowledge based on different areas of knowledge. 

In this journey, training processes have also been designed, implemented and evaluated for institutions interested in strengthening their pedagogical tools for working with children and young people on science and research topics. The EPM Foundation and 69 schools or educational institutions in the city have participated there. 

Through strategies of education and communication of sciences based on play, questioning, conversation and experimentation, EAFIT Children's University fosters critical understanding of scientific knowledge by girls and young women from diverse social backgrounds, contributing to their formation as curious and active subjects, in an environment of equity and social awareness. 

These strategies address a gap in terms of science communication activities and for the development of STEM skills, especially in peri-urban and rural territories, where the knowledge produced by research and academia hardly reaches communities or fuels decisions that they take. This barrier is more evident in the case of women, who are usually relegated to the home, which reduces their possibilities of participating in the world of science and contributing to the development of their territories. 

Additionally, the strategies developed by the EAFIT Children's University contribute to the voice of girls, boys and adolescents being taken into account in decisions that affect their lives. 

The type of educational experiences that the program develops include virtual and face-to-face workshops, and science communication content in printed and digital formats. The program offers these products and services to public and private organizations interested in strengthening the education of children and adolescents, developing tailor-made projects for these institutions. Some of the workshops are offered directly to families as courses in which they can enroll individually, or sold to educational institutions for their students or teachers. 

Currently, the main funder of the program is EAFIT University, a private, non-profit institution, which provides spaces and resources for the base team to carry out their work, and finances the training process that takes place on campus with girls and boys from the city of Medellín and nearby municipalities, and in which teachers from public and private educational institutions also participate. 

The program also offers vacation, science, and research training courses for children and teens that are partially or fully funded by families, depending on their financial ability. 

Additionally, the program sells its workshops to educational institutions, and develops custom projects for private companies, foundations or public sector entities. These projects allow to impact diverse audiences in urban, peri-urban and rural sectors. 

In recent years, the program has also focused on national and international calls, with the intention of accessing resources that allow the impact of the activities to be broadened. Likewise, work has been done on proposals to transfer the methodology to other universities and entities that can replicate the educational experiences already developed or generate their own experiences, reaching a greater number of girls, boys and adolescents. 

The program hopes to continue exploring these and other possible sources of financing for its activities, as well as alliances that allow it to reach the territories and populations that most need these learning experiences and impact the lives of more girls and young women. 

At EAFIT Children's University we are convinced of the potential of the program's methodology to positively impact the education and quality of life of many girls and women in Colombia and Latin America, and especially those with the most vulnerable conditions. 

However, we feel that we lack tools, specifically in financial matters related to our business model and how to access financing opportunities that allow us to grow beyond Medellín and Antioquia, and we consider that being part of a network of allies such as Solve, and receiving the advice that the call offers could help us acquire these tools and strengthen our business model in order to scale our solution. 

Likewise, accessing funds from the program and other awards would be a significant boost to achieve the goals that we have set for ourselves in the coming years. 

On the other hand, we feel that participation in this network could also strengthen us in aspects such as how to present our program and its value proposition, and the use of technologies that we have probably not explored and that can enhance the educational experiences we develop and facilitate access to girls and young people from more territories. 

Finally, we consider that as participants in a network like Solve we could contribute to the work of others from our knowledge and experience in working with children, young people and teachers and in developing active learning experiences in science topics, specially in the Latin American context. 

EAFIT Children's University has 15 years of experience in the development of educational experiences and the strengths of its team are especially focused on methodological and science communication aspects. However, our experience and capabilities in topics such as developing a business model or finding resources are limited. This has meant that the program, despite having great potential, has been unable to expand its strategies to new audiences and territories to achieve greater impact. For this reason, we would like to be able to receive advice from other organizations with more experience in these issues that can guide us and show options that allow the program to grow and reach more girls and young women. 

1. Solver: Open Learning Exchange 

Overview: Helping disadvantaged youth learn the skills they need to build and maintain a fulfilling life 

Headquarters: Cambridge, MA, United States 

Richard R. Rowe 

2. Solver: TalkingPoints 

Overview: Enabling parent-teacher engagement via a multilingual communication platform 

Headquarters: San Francisco, CA, United States 

Heejae Lim 

3. Solver: Code Nation 

Overview: Equipping students in under-resourced schools with the skills needed to launch careers in tech 

Headquarters: San Francisco, CA, United States 

Rebecca Novak 

4. Solver: Century Tech 

Overview: An AI-powered platform that personalizes education and improves learning outcomes 

Headquarters: London, United Kingdom 

Priya Lakhani 

5. Solver: Kiron Open Higher Education 

Overview: Bridging the gap between refugees and higher education 

Headquarters: Berlin, Germany 

Hila Azadzoy 

6. Solver: Practical Education Network 

Overview: Tools for West African STEM teachers to provide hands-on learning experiences 

Headquarters: Accra, Ghana 

Heather Beem 

7. Solver: Digital Citizen Fund 

Overview: Educating a new generation of women through digital literacy and community building 

Headquarters: New York, NY, United States 

Roya Mahboob 

8. Solver: Girls Who Build 

Overview: Creative engineering workshops for high school girls 

Headquarters: Cambridge, MA, United States 

Kristen Railey 

9. Casey van der Stricht 

Principal, Solve Innovation Future 

10. Sara Monteabaro 

Lead, Learning Community 

11. Dr. Alexander Dale 

Lead, Sustainability Community 

12. Eliza Berg 

Officer, Learning Community 

EAFIT Children's University intends to bring girls and young women closer to STEM areas and increase their self-confidence in these issues, using technology as a means. The ultimate goal is that girls and young people can appropriate the knowledge that is produced from different sciences and tools that allow them to participate more actively in solving the problems of their context and have a voice in the decisions made in their territories and communities and that affect them directly. 

The Innovation for Women Prize would allow the program to pilot its solution in a new territory and with girls and young women who need it. 

EAFIT Children's University intends to bring girls and young people closer to STEM areas and increase their self-confidence in these issues, using technology as a means. The program develops learning experiences based on the knowledge generated by researchers from different areas of knowledge, including engineering. 

The ultimate goal is that girls and young women can appropriate the knowledge that is produced from different sciences and tools that allow them to participate more actively in solving the problems of their context, that can overcome the social and psychological barriers that sometimes prevent them from considering STEM areas as a possibility for their future and that they can contribute to the decisions that are made in their territories and communities and that affect them directly. 

The GM Prize would allow the program to pilot its solution in a new territory where girls and young people do not have opportunities like these to access quality educational programs in STEM areas. Additionally, an alliance with GM would allow the development of new content for girls and young people based on the knowledge and experience of this company and the research it carries out. 

EAFIT Children's University develops active learning processes aimed at children, young people and adults who seek to bring these audiences closer to the sciences and the knowledge that is produced from them, through play, experimentation, questions and conversation; understanding the science in a broad sense that also includes the human and social sciences and the arts. These training processes make use of different technologies, allowing participants to become familiar with them in an easy and simple way. 

Additionally, a recent study that is in the process of being published, allowed us to identify that the participants of EAFIT Children's University obtained better results in standardized tests both in the area of language and mathematics, compared to their peers. Likewise, the interviews and focus groups carried out with parents and teachers to evaluate the impact of the program have made it possible to recognize its contributions to the communication skills of the participants and their self-confidence and motivation to learn. 

Although for the purposes of Solve's call, the program focuses its proposal on girls and young women and in the Latin American region, the Gulbekian Award would be an opportunity to develop a pilot of the solution with adult women in Portugal and in other parts of the world, with an emphasis on literary, scientific and digital literacy, also taking advantage of the program's alliances with children's universities in European countries, including Portugal.