Computer science will be compulsory at all three levels of the educational system

Last Friday the national government presented The National Science and Technology Program in the School, an initiative to rethink science teaching in the Argentine educational system, including the three levels: primary, primary and secondary.

The presentation was chaired by the Minister of Education of the State, Nicholas Trout, along with its counterpart in science, technology and innovation, Roberto Salvarez; Minister of Education , Marisa Dazz; Conicet Head, Ana Mara Franchi; Director of the National Institute of Technological Education, Diego Golombek.

Golombek was responsible for providing the guidelines they are working on to define a mid-term project that would rethink the way science is taught in schools, which Diagnosis They are summarized as follows:

• Poor performance in national and international assessments
• Poor scientific knowledge in the general population
• Heterogeneous science teacher training
• Non-participation of researchers
• Divorce between science and separation
• “Knowledge Elsewhere”
• The lack of scientific professions

“For what? To train scientists? Partially yes, but above all to train citizens with a scientific perspective on what they are going to do with their lives,” Golombek explained. “This has to be integrated, which is why we are proposing it as an integrative plan, which will take some time. This science is not only at science time, but science questions are also presented in other hours.”

10 Recommendations

Golombek, on the other hand, listed the ten recommendations of this school’s national science and technology plan:

1. Encouraging experimentation and inquiry in the natural sciences in primary and secondary schools
2. Promote and update technological education with computer science contents
3. Review the contents of the syllabus
4. Initial and continuing teacher training
5. Create spaces for experimentation, training and design
6. Project “180 contents”
7. Content and methodologies to ensure an adequate workload of natural sciences in primary school and at the initial stage
8. Promote the pathways of high school graduates and new ones. Share UUNN
9. Create national virtual courses in strategic areas
10. An incentive for extracurricular activities in science and technology

“We will need specialized teachers”

Regarding point 2, the director of INET explained that it is one of the most ambitious. “The plan proposes that at the three educational levels there will be compulsory computer science. It’s not programming, it’s not computer science, it’s broader. It begins with computational thinking, logical-mathematical thinking and its applications: programming, computing, robotics, etc.. We’ve been working really hard on this, particularly with the Sadosky Foundation, and it’s really ambitious.”

“The most ambitious point of the plan is to install a mandatory curricular space for computer science, which we have worked with along with #Sadooqi_Box“, Tweet embed In the presentation of the guidelines of the National Plan for Science and Technology in Schools pic.twitter.com/I5fWIazuMf

Programar2020 (@Programar2020) August 20 2021

To meet the challenge, INET is considering making a very big effort for initial and continuing teacher training, “because obviously we will need teachers who specialize in this subject. There are many, and there are others who will start the way. And there are others who will specialize in this.”

“Argentina intends to walk the path of development, creating more jobs. For this, these initiatives are transformations for the future. We have the challenge that the school has all the tools to build opportunities for every girl and every boy. For this reason, 1400 million is expected to be invested $ to provide educational institutions with these science and technology kits, and more than 6 billion pesos for 2022 and 2023 to develop this national program,” Trotta said.

For his part, Minister Salvareza said that the school’s National Science and Technology Program “is a great joy that we all share, as it promotes scientific vocations, it enhances the presence of science in schools so that young people understand the importance of a country investing in science and to know what our scientists are doing, and above all else.” , that puts them in touch with experience and an introduction to critical thinking that allows them to meet the challenges of a complex and changing world.”

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