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Intel Educator Academy 2009 Reno, Nevada. Costa 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
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Intel Educator Academy 2009Reno, Nevada Costa 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 Rica Country: Population: 4,3 million Territory: 51100 km2 Educational Environment: • Education System • Organization: 23 Ministry of Education Regional Offices
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.
National Science & Technology Fair Process: 2008 National Engineering Fair : 2008
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.