We participate in STEAM Sare’s Career Guidance Meetings for Young People

• NEIKER is part of STEAM Sare, the network of educational centers and socio-economic agents to promote scientific-technological vocations
• This week three meetings have taken place in Vitoria, Hernani and Bilbao, respectively, and four NEIKER researchers have taken part in the one in Bilbao to bring their experience to pre-university students

The meetings are part of the STEAM Euskadi Strategy of the Basque Government, which aims to bring STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) education to all students in the Basque Country, especially girls. Within the aforementioned strategy, STEAM Sare promotes the students’ knowledge of the professional practices of the different companies and technology centers that work in the Basque Country on a daily basis.

More than a hundred Basque students of ESO and Bachillerato participated this morning in an innovative meeting to promote scientific-technological vocations among students held at the University of Deusto. They were accompanied by about twenty science and technology professionals who work in some of the companies and organizations in the Basque Country. In addition to the four NEIKER researchers, professionals from the Basque Center for Applied Mathematics (BCAM), CIE Automotive, Cikautxo, Gestamp, Ikaslan Bizkaia, ITP Aero; Maier S. Coop., Sener Ingeniería y Sistemas, Tecnalia and the University of Deusto were there.

The event held this morning was organized by Elhuyar and coordinated by the Basque Innovation Agency, Innobasque, and was based on the original and dynamic format of speed dating. The students have been divided into groups of four people per table and next to them, in turns of fifteen minutes, have been sitting the professionals invited to share their experiences with them. During this time, the professionals explained the doubts raised by the young people. At the end of those fifteen minutes, the professional changed tables so that all the students had the opportunity to learn about the different professional realities present in the initiative.

The event ended with a visit to part of the facilities of the Bilbao campus of the University of Deusto, where students were able to see some of the work related to STEAM disciplines that are developed in its facilities.

STEAM Sare

STEAM Sare shows Basque youth what research, science and innovation professionals are like and what they do in the Basque Country in order to encourage them to choose higher technical studies. A network of fifty Secondary Education centers, companies, universities and technology centers offers young people a catalog of activities aligned with the curriculum of Secondary Education centers. In this way, teachers offer the real context of subjects such as mathematics, chemistry or technology and at the same time show the reality and labor diversity of these professions in the Basque business network. The activities are organized according to the needs of the schools in the subjects worked on: biology, geology, scientific culture, technical drawing, physics, chemistry, mathematics, technology and industrial technology.