CAF Reaffirms Commitment to Scientific Training of Children and Youth in Argentina
December 16, 2021
As part of the Entrepreneurial Capacity Building Program of the government of Argentina, supported by CAF—development bank of Latin America—since 2015, the ProgramAr initiative was presented together with the Sadosky Foundation in Tecnópolis, the flagship space for science, technology, industry and art in the country. The goal is to lay the foundations for significant learning of computer science in schools, and higher enrollment in courses related to Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) at the tertiary and university level.
The initiative is financed by CAF, materialized on two stands on the Tecnópolis premises, which invites children and young people to participate in the interactive proposals “Pilas Bloques” and “Vocaciones,” to help them take their first steps in the world of programming and learn what computer science can do today, from an entertaining and innovative approach.
“Pilas Bloques” invites girls and boys aged 5 and older in elementary school to solve challenges in groups based on the platform, an app developed by the Sadosky Foundation for children to learn basic programming notions.
At the fair, participants must organize a sequence of orders, using physical blocks, to guide a team member through a stage with obstacles and thus achieve the proposed objective. The activity is a tool to help children understand computational language, take ownership of technology and think about strategies for solutions to specific problems without the need to have technical knowledge or experience and without using actual computers.
In addition, with the aim of motivating young visitors to discover the options in studying computer science, Vocaciones features young people as protagonists. In a space designed emulating a teenager’s bedroom, participants can access augmented reality games, mapping and videos, to learn how digital technology relates to games, fashion, sports and music.
As part of this proposal, young people can discover, through screens placed on the stands, higher level education offers related to digital technology from public and private institutions throughout the country.
Based on the objectives of ProgramAr, links have been established with 31 public universities and teacher training institutes in 16 Argentine provinces to advance teacher training programs, through short and long-term courses; develop didactic materials and platforms; teach practical workshops in secondary schools, and raise awareness about what computational thinking is and about its purpose.
ProgramAr is one of the components of the Entrepreneurial Capacity Building Program together with: infrastructure and furnishing of the Cero + Infinito Building and six centers for high-level scientific-technological activities; the “Science and Technology against hunger” line to encourage projects aimed at the development and application of high-level technology in the area of food, drinking water and planning of public policies; the regional scientific mobility scholarships for the Latin American Center for Interdisciplinary Training (CELFI); and the development of the Argentine Unified Management System of Scientific and Technological Information for the planning, formulation and evaluation of policies of the entire national scientific system
Thus, CAF seeks to consolidate its significant, high-quality contribution to the training of students, teachers and researchers in areas of science and technology relevant to the productive development of Argentina and other countries of the region.