Introduction:: Preparing youth for current and foreseeable global challenges should be a top priority, and an endeavor reaching all geographical and social contexts. In particular, curricula in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) education are at the core of this task. Developing essential competencies, such as critical thinking, perseverance, creativity, innovation, and collaboration, is crucial for addressing pressing challenges worldwide. Furthermore, a highly educated workforce is paramount for economic development and building a knowledge-based economy. The Science Clubs Colombia (SCC) program is a grassroots educational program created by volunteer scientists to address this challenge. SCC's mission is to mobilize the scientific diaspora for STEAM education in Latin America, contributing to high-quality STEAM education in underserved communities. The SCC program is sustained by a network of volunteers who work with support from both private and government entities. The program's goals are to increase access to high-quality STEAM education for Colombian children and youth by engaging the scientific community in the country and abroad and to facilitate connections between the diaspora and local scientists and communities. The program brings together researchers based in Colombia and abroad to lead intensive project-based learning workshops for young students in urban and rural areas. These projects focus on channeling the students' technical and cognitive scientific aptitudes to tackle challenges of both local and global relevance. The program provides high-quality STEAM education adapted to communities' needs and articulates long-lasting international collaborations using the mobility of the Colombian diaspora.
Materials and Methods:: SCC achieves these goals through the execution of "Science Clubs," science workshops delivered to youth and children across the Colombian territory (Figure 1A). Science Clubs are intensive, project-oriented, one-week workshops that focus on developing technical and cognitive abilities in STEAM fields for teenagers between the ages of 13 and 17. The Clubs are designed to provide a platform for students to experience the world of research, from conception of ideas to design, execution of experiments, and communication of results. The instructional approach of the Science Clubs is project-based learning (PBL), which supports extended inquiry processes, engaging students in real-world problem solving and providing meaningful and active learning opportunities. The Science Clubs aim to foster creativity, critical thinking, and the development of skills that students can apply to solve problems in their communities and local contexts.
The Science Clubs in Colombia are divided into three categories, Urban, Regional, and Frontier, and are organized in partnership with local universities, the Colombian Ministry of Science and Technology, and local authorities and organizations. Urban Science Clubs take place in cities. The Regional and Frontier Science Clubs take place in rural regions across the country, with Frontier Clubs focused on working with students in remote and borderland communities and Regional Clubs aimed at serving rural communities all over the national territory. SCC promotes the exploration of local talent and resources, acknowledges existing ancestral and communal knowledge, and encourages the adaptation and appropriation of new knowledge while sparking curiosity and creativity in students.
Results, Conclusions, and Discussions:: Since its first edition in 2015, SCC has organized 364 Clubs impacting the lives of over 9,000 students across 57 sites in Colombia (Figure 1B). Whether in urban or rural areas, most of the students come from public schools, and many from low-socioeconomic status households, with limited access to high-quality education. Led by 722 instructors, the Clubs have covered a wide variety of STEAM topics: food science, biomedical engineering, artificial intelligence, conservation, agriculture, applied math, astronomy, biotechnology, social sciences, genetics, nuclear physics, and many others. SCC has reached students from 28 out of 32 Colombian departments (Figure 1C), despite the many inequities students face in both urban and rural settings. In particular, 37 Science Clubs have occurred in rural communities during the Regional and Frontier versions of the Program (Figures 1D).
SCC also aims to connect local scientists and students with international researchers, and at least one instructor from an international institution is involved in each club. To date, 356 international and 366 national instructors have taught a Science Club. While the international instructors were located worldwide (Figure 1E), 71% of them were part of the Colombian diaspora (Figure 1F), indicating high interest amongst the diaspora to return and contribute to the development of the country.
The COVID-19 pandemic threatened the survival of the program but we adapted with a virtual offerings of the Clubs through a “Clubs at Home” version, which reached more students across the country. However, students in rural areas lacked infrastructure, leading to the creation of the "Science Calls You" version, which included personalized kits and voice-only communication. The program aimed to implement sustainable strategies and provide long-term solutions for communities, highlighting the potential for collaboration between communities in Colombia and the scientific diaspora.
The SCC program is a successful grassroots science education initiative that connects scientists in the diaspora with children and young students in rural areas of Colombia, with a proven, scalable, and reproducible outcome. The program promotes international collaboration and long-term networking for the promotion of STEAM careers and exemplifies the importance of engaging the science diaspora in science education.
