On this occasion, the director of the establishment, Helene Vega and different members of its educational community participated, as well as María Fernanda Glaser, the Seremi for Women and Gender Equality of Coquimbo and part of her team.

Last December, the teams of the Conecta ULS 2195 and Territorio ULS 2295 projects -initiatives led by the Academic Vice-Rector's Office of the University of La Serena (ULS) and the Directorate of Liaison with the Environment and Extension (Diveuls)-, held the successful discussion “Connecting Territories for Educational and Economic Development” at the Canela Alta Basic School, which was attended by the director of the establishment, Helene Vega, the different members of its educational community and María Fernanda Glaser, the Seremi de the Women and Gender Equality of Coquimbo, and part of its team.

The activity took place at the Canela Alta Basic School, an occasion in which the exhibitors invited attendees to think about different ways to enhance the territory in terms of education and in terms of future growth and economic development.

The discussion began with the presentation of the Territory 2295 Project: "Introduction to working with the communities of our region", by the communications manager María Jesús Ossandón, who delved into the central concepts of the project, thus making known the positive impact that This seeks to generate through participatory research initiatives in different locations in the Coquimbo Region.

Ossandón also presented the video “First Conference on Identification of knowledge needs in practical methodologies on packaging design and product presentation issues”, - an activity carried out by the Territorio ULS 2295 project, with support from the ULS School of Design. , and the testimonial video of Yasna Esquivel, basic general education teacher and former student of the ULS.

After this, the academic of the Conecta ULS project, Dr. Sebastián Rossel, presented the presentation “Renewal of the Pedagogical Model from the STEAM approach”, delving into the experience of the project and the implementation of this methodological approach to learning in educational establishments with the which is worked in the communes of Monte Patria, Punitaqui, Canela, Ovalle, Combarbalá and La Higuera.

The exhibition ended with the Master in Education and specialist in Curriculum and Educational Community of the Conecta ULS 2195 project, Coralina Muñoz, who presented the presentation: “Education, Curriculum and Local Development: Building the Future through Education”, and placed special emphasis on the fact that education stands as an essential pillar for local development. 

The activity ended with a space for questions and conversation between the exhibitors and the attendees, in order to obtain feedback regarding the presentations and outline some ideas about educational and economic growth and development for this and other rural territories in the Coquimbo Region.

Regarding this, the Seremi for Women and Gender Equality, María Fernanda Glaser, stated that “we were in the activity carried out by the Conecta ULS and Territorio ULS projects at the Canela Alta Basic School, where we talked with the educational community, regarding the role of women in education and the crisis in education, seeing possible solutions to incorporate more girls and boys into schools and so that there are non-sexist curricula, so that girls do not feel that there are areas of knowledge that "they are forbidden."

The director of the Canela Alta School, Helene Vega also referred to the activity, pointing out that “the Conecta ULS and Territorio ULS projects did something very positive for the community of the Canela Alta School and for the inhabitants of the commune, since the presentations were very good and covered everything from educational perspectives to economic production. In addition, we had the important visit of the Seremi for Women and Gender Equality of Coquimbo, so we put on the table elements such as non-sexist education and that our girls have an active role in science and mathematics, we also talked about how to rescue our intangible heritage and about the role of women post-pandemic, taking care of children and how that negatively impacts student learning.”

For his part, the Institutional Coordinator of Diveuls, Nando Verelst explained that “this activity was born as an instance that integrates two emblematic projects of the ULS, such as Conecta ULS, - which has as its main focus being able to relate the university with schools in lagging areas of the region, around active learning methodologies -, and the ULS Territory project, which seeks to strengthen the research carried out by the university around the region, in addition to promoting issues related to development sustainable, circular economy and economic diversification, among others.”

Elaborating on this, Verelst stressed that "for us it is very important that these projects relate to each other and at the same time connect with the communities, in order to achieve greater impacts in response to the different needs that the communities express."

Written by Romina Onel, Conecta ULS Project.