#LaHoraSTEAM (The STEAM Hour) - An Initiative to Promote STEM-STEAM Learning in Quarantine Times (Work in Progress)

Abstract

The pandemic produced by COVID-19 has forced a radical change in the strategies and methodologies used to share and transmit knowledge. With the schools/Universities' closure, the educational process changed radically from one day to the next. In particular, in several Latin-American countries, the quarantine conditions are extremely severe, limiting regular citizens' movement and confining them to remain at home, only allowing them to get out for "essential " activities. STEM-STEAM education, based on collaborative work, inquiry, experimentation, problem-solving, and project generation, encounters many obstacles. In the present situation, students and teachers' isolation does not have access to laboratories, materials, and other essential supplies to facilitate a quality educational process. Aware of these limitations, a group of professionals from several countries across the Americas have worked together and developed the ManifiestoSTEAM. The ManifiestoSTEAM is a voluntary team working without any monetary support. The ManifiestoSTEAM goal is to develop alternative ways to promote quality STEM-STEAM education reaching students, parents, and teachers directly at their homes. One of the initiatives developed by the ManifiestoSTEAM, #LaHoraSTEAM will be presented in this paper. #LaHora STEAM is a public broadcast (Facebook, YouTube) of one hour once a week - Saturdays to facilitate parents and children interaction. In each broadcast, one of the ManifiestoSTEAM members presents a "live" activity generating interactivity with the audience. Then, the other group members monitor the chats to share the audience's participation and show their questions to the presenter and the rest of the team to model a live learning experience based on STEM-STEAM activities. All the activities presented in the live broadcast are implemented using materials accessible at home! To ensure that the prospective participants receive the information (time, access link, list of materials), the ManifiestoSTEAM, allied with the Municipality of Lima - Perú manages the logistics of distributing the information live broadcasting. Following Lima's success, ManifiestoSTEAM implemented a similar series of seven activities in Medellin, Colombia. The name of Medellin's series is "Viernes de Ser + STEM." After discussing the methodology implemented to produce #LaHora STEAM, data collected in the first 15 broadcasts in Lima and seven in Medellin will be presented, showing the impact of the initiative.