What do you need to know:
Have you heard about the Robotics Olympiad and the participants from Mexico?
We spoke to its protagonists to learn their stories: delays in education, economic hardship and the gender differences that affect them.
Despite the benefits that robotics has brought to humanitythis has not yet penetrated between the new generation of Mexico Due to the lack of vision of the state, economic difficultieshe educational backwardness and the digital divide which affects Mexican girls and adolescents.
Despite the digital gender gap and lack of economic support he experienced, Elisa Fernandez Perez was three-time winner of the World Robotics Olympiad in Mexico and represented our country in the global finals of this meeting held in Panama in 2023, where he won the title fourth place in the secondary category.
Doing robotics involves training in fields such as engineering, mathematics, technology and programming; areas normally practiced by men and being a woman could mean an additional challenge to the intellectual work these subjects require, explained Elisa, who confirmed this not only because of the small number of participants she saw in the competitions, but also because prejudices that exist in new generations.
“Although in cohabitation you know many points of view about women, sometimes it is necessary to set boundaries for them.”
Young creative the state of Mexico he said lack of financial support It led to her robot designs being influenced by their development or final outcome, as well as her prioritizing participation in certain competitions rather than all of the ones she wanted to participate in.
Despite the above, the current high school student and Robotics Career Scholar recalled with a smile It started at the age of 10 with inspiration from his sister who challenged the stigmaas well as for their instinct to know that they have the potential to continue in this digital world.
In a similar context, the national champions of the same competition in 2023, but in the high school category, Maria Guadalupe Ortega Rodríguez, Dulce Ivonne Ríos Gonzalez and Sara Itzel Zapata Arguijo decided to unite and enter this competition. “people’s world”because in their case, given that they were women, they came to feel fear of receiving bad comments.
One of them, María Guadalupe, commented Sopitas.com that his training in this discipline they did it their waybecause belonging to a public school this It did not provide them with the necessary education in robotics and related subjects.
Originally from San Felipe, Guanajuato; They never imagined participating in this type of meeting, but they decided to let go of the fear of being judged by gender and face the economic barriers that also sometimes prevent them from paying for their projects or traveling to other countries to compete. with a deep desire to do robotics in his professional future.
Robotics in the New Mexican School
The New Mexican School It is the government’s public policy regarding basic education in our country and it is one of its goals “commitment to providing quality in teaching”. He is also aware of the historical delay and therefore wishes “to improve students’ knowledge, skills and abilities in core areas such as communication, mathematics and science.”
This political project of the nation also explains that sand it’s a journey of 23 years for “provide the substantive basis (and) strengthen education in all age groups for which education is compulsory.
For the teaching professional Rebecca Lopez Portillo This delay may be caused by There is still no teaching or management training what “allows a thorough understanding of the new approach and its epistemological, philosophical and pedagogical foundations”; so that they are carried out in pedagogical practice as suggested by the educational model.
When you ask teacher Rebecca about whether New Mexican School includes an educational approach STEAM (abbreviation of the English words Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics)which serves as a support for training robotics projects, found that although it exists, it is scattered as “short access” which could be modified over time towards this particular focus.
The analyst also talked about the existence of robotics before it competes the most fundamental challenge of digitizing educational facilities is their optimal equipmentTherefore, while progress has been made in urban areas, at least Internet access and one computer per school is desirable for the rural context.
“Not everything is bad”stressed López Portillo because he recognized that teaching mathematics comes with the intention of shaping the scientific thinking of girls and boys so that Don’t see this topic as content that you just need to repeat, but to apply it in new technologies: “The idea is that they get to high school knowing how to program.”
In the specific case of robotics, the teacher acknowledged that in some public schools it is applied as a workshop and not as compulsory content, explaining that without idealizing a private school, it is in this type of institution with large resources that his own efforts are made to bring the subject to your students.
“It’s like in health care systems, if you can afford it, you can access it.”
The challenge of bringing robotics to Mexico
There is a public debate about the pros and cons of robotics in people’s daily lives.
On the one hand, since its inception, incl The industrial revolutionthanks to machine automation, it has have caused people to lose their jobs and less and less work is neededwhich is a factor that motivated some dissatisfaction, explained Jorge Hernández Huerta, the national organizer World Robotics Olympiad.
However, it was also visible This discipline has had positive views and impacts on the human speciesFor example, “A doctor can use these technological advances to save lives and can do it remotely; and more and more races are using it to improve their performance.”added the specialist.
In addition to the above – and betting on the second point of view – the goal of WRO in our country is the democratization of robotics among children and adolescents, compensation of the educational gap, strengthening their position from an early age. skilled human capital for the future and to promote the participation of adolescent girls and boys in order to overcome the gender gap that exists in this discipline.
“It was seen that in other years of the competition, 30 percent of the total number of participants corresponded to women and the remaining 70 percent to men.”he commented
The instructor pointed it out World Robotics Olympiad It’s a competition where teams aged 8 to 19 measure their knowledge to apply it to real-world problem solving; In addition, each broadcast of this competition has a different theme and this version is called “Earth Allies”.
The final will be in November 2024 in Turkey and we will be represented by a delegation from Mexico.
Another example of inclusion is Robotics for schoolsa pedagogical tool offered by Editorial Learn STEAM in conjunction with TEAM FUNDSwhich was directed in Mexico by Jorge Sánchez Estrada.
This program Robotic education ranges from kindergarten, primary and secondary schools, where the aim is to ensure that they acquire critical, logical and creative thinking from an early age; as programming ability so that children and teenagers can project scientific models, design robots, develop educational video games and tell interactive stories while they learn, the digital education expert explained.
Although it is a curriculum aimed at any type of educational institution, Sánchez Estrada emphasized that Private schools are usually most interested in its acquisition.for their vision and interest in training and hiring new teachers specializing in STEAM or robotics, supporting the creation of laboratories of this type and encouraging participation in the Olympiad.
This educational tool also seeks to equip classrooms for building robots practically from pre-primary educationvirtual or physical; and also aims to encourage the inclusion of all existing robotics information so that any child or teen with a computer can explore their robotics-focused creative potential.
Although this initiative was developed several years before the Covid 19 pandemic, it was due to restrictions It was decided to launch this tool in order to compensate for the delay in education caused by the absence of young people in the classrooms.
