Explora RM Norte trained more than 40 Early Childhood Education professionals through PIPE
For the fourth consecutive year, the Explora Norte Metropolitan Region Project of the Ministry of Science, Technology, Knowledge and Innovation implemented the Early Age Inquiry Program (PIPE), which aims for children between 3 and 6 years old to discover and know their environment, strengthening the development of their scientific competences through inquiry learning experiences that enhance and channel their innate curiosity.
This year we worked in the area of technological learning, under two modules: "We invent by nature" aimed at the middle levels and "Let's tell stories" for transition levels. Reaching training of 44 teachers and education assistants of preschool education and 920 children from various educational establishments of the Northern Metropolitan Region.
Between March and December of this year, Trainings were offered, workshops in collaboration with the Inquiry-Based Science Education Program (ECBI) and the Ideomaker team, Collaborative co-design days, Delivery of kits for the implementation of the activities of each learning module, Accompaniment in the classroom and other synchronous and asynchronous activities, in order to strengthen the scientific competences of the educational teams of preschool education.
Among the technical competences worked are: Act with curiosity, look for opportunities for indegation, Discover solution alternatives, Design research projects, Run the project, analyze results and communicate the work done, while transversal competences, focused on learning for innovation, Learning from the process, Execute critical judgment and learn with others.
To finalize the initiative, during the month of November, was held in person at the Faculty of Sciences, Chemical and Pharmaceutical of the University of Chile the certification of the participants of PIPE 2022, instance that promoted reflection on the impact of the program on teaching practice and on the learning and teaching processes of children. Also, each PIPE participant was invited to carry out a small closure in their educational establishments together with the children, thus fostering the technical competence that is related to communicating the work done.
"Inclusive, interesting and dynamic", "Fun, explorer, diverse", "Entertaining, new, challenging" were some of PIPE's definitions in three words, highlighted by participants.
"On behalf of my school I appreciate the accompaniment we had throughout the initiative, One of the activities that children valued most was to realize how close they were to science.. For example, When we did the activity with Velcro, They were fascinated because they had Velcro in their sneakers and buttons.. And that's the idea., Bringing science closer to children starting with everyday life, because this way they will make learning much more meaningful" said Carolina Morales, Pinpilin Kindergarten, Ñuñoa.
"For us it was a challenge to share PIPE at the other levels., We even implemented it in the nursery and took some transversal skills that we could use with the little ones, It was very useful to take certain skills and be able to transform them.. It has helped us a lot to articulate with other teachers of other levels, It was challenging, but we leave happy because we made it" said Macarena Ossandon educator of the Parque O'Higgins Kindergarten.
On the other hand, Meribet Ravanales from the Fernando Alessandri Rodríguez School in Santiago said that it was a great experience for her, starting from the professional point of view, Meaningful learning for children and families, "In my case, I tried to incorporate families in the first two experiences and I had a very good reception, until the closure of the activity, The children remembered what we had done at the beginning.. The program also allows me to take these learned tools to other science experiences., for example, I do experiments and this allowed me to transfer this knowledge and give it another order".
Finally, Diego Garay from the New Zealand School of Independence, said that it is the first time he participates in PIPE, "I'm glad it all turned out, At first I was a little scared because I didn't know how I was going to do the reception of the children., but everything went well, Materials were optimal, He met all my expectations with which I applied.".
The Explora RM Norte team, congratulates and thanks the educational establishments that participated in the PIPE initiative: Santiago de Chile School, El Bosque de Renca School, New Zealand School, Colegio San Adrián, JI Pinpilin, Republic of Colombia School, JI Chamomile, JI Ignacio Carrera Pinto, JI Mead, Simón Bolívar Bicentennial School, Liceo San Francisco de Quito, Madrigal School, Fernando Alessandri Rodriguez School, JI Leonor Osorio Llantén, A Corner of Joy School, Lara School Pinta el Sol, JI O'Higgins Park, JI Copiapó, Palestine School, Antu Huilen School and JI Reborn Dreams.
