1.

INTRODUCTION

According to different research, over the last few years, students have decreased their interest in Science, Engineering, Technology, and Engineering (STEM) studies worldwide. This has led to a deficit in fulfilling the needs of science-related professionals in the academy and industry1.

In addition, different countries worldwide are conducting projects to integrate STEM education in formal or informal environments as part of an integral and multidisciplinary education that promotes creativity, inquiry, dialogue, collaboration, critical thinking, experiential learning, and problem-solving skills2.

Moreover, different Latin American countries are researching to measure the quality of primary education in rural communities and towns outside the metropolitan areas, concluding that inequality and inequity and the typical results in most cases. Also, in the Mexican context, the kids and youths that grow up in a town away from the cities tend to select as career paths the local opportunities, leading to a decrease of students in higher education from rural communities or small towns3–7.

As we know, a change in the public policy of education is a long process, and as teachers and researchers in STEM fields, we are looking to make a significant change in our communities and our students every day. This work presents the summary of a multidisciplinary project where teachers, students, and technical staff of the Facultad de Ciencias Físico Matemáticas worked together to conduct science events in different facilities all over the state of Nuevo León and, in collaboration with other research groups, in different states of México.

2.

METHODOLOGY

The department of the Mobile Planetarium of the Facultad de Ciencia Físico Matemáticas (FCFM) is integrated by technical staff dedicated to astronomy∗. The outreach group ‘Physics for Everyone’ is an academic group that was born as an evolution of the SPIE and OPTICA student chapters, where students, teachers, alumni, and early career volunteer to perform optics and physics demonstrations, using, in most cases, low-cost materials and conducting activities in public spaces of traveling to schools in the area 8,9.

This project’s first approach was conducted in 2017 when the science community prepared events for the partial solar eclipse. The project ‘Let the science come to your space’ conducted the following activities:

After the success of the Solar Eclipse observation of 2017, the project was consolidated and structured as follows:

2.1

Public events

The public events performed in different cities and towns of Nuevo León include:

All the events include the participation of students and early careers professionals to create accurate role models of women and men performing science activities, where the diversity in gender and age of the volunteers makes more manageable for the public to feel identified and to consider pursuing a career in STEM fields11

3.

RESULTS

The Facultad de Ciencias Físico Matemáticas de la Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León (FCFM-UANL) has collaborated with the Secretaría de Educación Páblica de Nuevo León and municipal governments to promote science in public spaces and local schools in Monterrey and its metropolitan area. FCFM-UANL has sought to bring knowledge and interest in physical, mathematical, and computational sciences to the population and elementary and upper secondary education students through scientific events. The program has grown since its inception in 2017, reaching both urban and rural areas of Nuevo León with the support of participating municipalities and schools. Table 1 show the number of events held annually and the impact this program has had on outreach. It should be noted that no face-to-face events were held in 2021 due to the health emergency, but they were gradually resumed in 2022.

Figure 1 presents the map of the localities that benefited from this program, which covers a wide area of the state of Nuevo León. Likewise, the Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León has expanded the number of high schools in rural areas.

Figure 2 shows the program’s impact on different municipalities where optics and solar observation activities have been carried out. The program aims to contribute to bringing STEM activities closer to communities.

Table 1.

Total number of attendees benefited from this program.

Figure 1.

With over 80 events in over 60 cities and municipalities, we have reached around 68,000 attendees in Nuevo León. As seen in the figure, the highest density is in Monterrey and its metropolitan area, as it is the closest area to our University

Figure 2.

Some pictures of different events over the years.

4.

CONCLUSIONS

The project ‘Let Science come to your space’ has had a great and positive impact on our community:

This project will continue looking to increase the impact and develop a solid strategy to support new scientific projects that reduce the gap between the Nuevo León and Science community, looking to erase the geographical limits.