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Intel Educator Academy 2009Reno, Nevada

Costa RicaCosta Rica

Costa Rican Team– Jose Roberto Vega, PhD.

• LANOTEC (National Nanotechnology Lab)

• NSF and National Engineering Fair. SRC chairperson

– Alicia Fonseca• National Advisor for Technical Education, Ministry of Education• Commission member of the National Engineering Fair

– Emilie Baltodano Alpízar• Director of the Office to Promote Science, Technology and

Innovation, Ministry of Science and Technology

– Mary Helen Bialas• Education Manager, Intel Costa Rica

Shoptalk speaker:

– Nathalie Valencia• Intel Students as Scientists (Teacher training program) Program

Coordinator• National Engineering Fair. Academic Director.

Costa RicaCountry:

Population: 4,3 millionTerritory: 51100 km2

Educational Environment:• Education System

– Organization: 23 Ministry of Education Regional Offices

Kindegarten Primary school High schoolLevels two levels 1st - 6th grade 7th- 11th grade or 7th-12th

Institutions 24003900 (54% one-room

school)600 HS (+ 550 K-12 schools)

Student population ~100 K ~540 K ~300 KEducators (~60K) ~18 K

Educational Environment

• One National Curriculum-- centralized & test driven. • Math & Science introduced from K-6 by regular teacher,

general science teachers in 7-9th grades, and specialized science teachers in high school.

• After 9th grade, students choose academic HS for 10-11th grades, or technical HS for 10-12th grades.

• National tests are required during the final year for graduation.– Math, Science, Social Studies, Spanish, and– Language – either French or English

• University entrance requirements = High School National test scores + grades average from 10-11 + entrance exam.

Status of Science and Engineering Fairs

1960´sScience fairs as extracurricular activities: First Creativity and Science Fairs attempts

1970´s University of Costa Rica (UCR) organizes Science Fairs with university students

1980’s

1987: Fist National Science Fair (NSF) managed by UCR.NSF during this period included mainly private HS students from metropolitan area.(30 -50 schools participated )

1990’sLaw 7169, formal organization of NSF.NSF expanded to Primary School (1998) and other regions of the country (300 schools participate)

1999NSF affiliated to ISEF. First 3 Regional Fairs (550 schools) / ISEF Student observers

200020 Regional Science and Technology Fairs feed the ISEF affiliated National Science & Technology Fair; (710 schools participate)2002- CR team obtains first Special Award at ISEF

2004National Decree (# 3900 MEP-MICIT) Institutional science fairs are mandatory and incorporated in National School Calendar (2300 schools participate).ISEF 2004 CR students obtain 3rd place team award.

2006

New regulations for the participation of Kindergarten students A new fair is affiliated to ISEF; (3400 schools and over 50% student population or 600,000 students participate) ISEF 2006 CR students obtain 3rd place team award.

2007Integration of science research in the curriculum for seventh grade (in process)ISEF 2007 CR student obtains a Special Award (scholarship)

2008ISEF 2008. CR team obtain 1 student special award and a team special awardLaunch of the 1st National Engineering Fair

National Science & Technology Fair Process: 2008

ISEF affiliated fairs 2 National Fairs

Regional Science Fairs 22

Institutional Science Fairs K-12 1700

Projects: 200

Individual projects @ NSF 60

Team projects @ NSF 135

Judges @ NSF 173

National Engineering Fair : 2008

ISEF affiliated fairs 1 National Fair

Projects 60

Judges @ NEF 50

Science Fairs: Three biggest obstacles & proposed solutions

• Improve quality of SF projects. – Integrate project based learning as a teaching methodology– Provide training for Regional SRC to elevate standards– Offer new training courses to teachers.– Establish mentorship program for students with scientists and

professionals.

• Increase participation of engineering projects– Obtain Gov funding for the National Engineering Fair thru a

decree.– Coordinate teacher training program with the Ministry of Education

to reach rural schools.

• Judging process needs to be improved in order to standardize quality of judging in institutional, regional and national fairs.– Create a guideline for the judge profile to be distributed to all

institutional fairs nationwide. – Modify fair manual and expand training initiatives.– Create SW program to help standardize process.