Irrupción de radio y divulgación en el aula para promover las vocaciones científicas en primaria

Promoting STEM careers at an early age has become a growing concern. This article highlights the usefulness of educational radio and extracurricular science workshops in the classroom for awakening children’s interest in science and technology. The results presented are derived from a real year-long experience with about a thousand Primary School children in Extremadura. Both during and after this initiative--called “Lab Mice”--a questionnaire was distributed and almost a thousand responses were collected. They indicate a positive impact on the children’s perception of the two aforementioned practices. Most remarkably, they reveal an increased interest in science and a shift in career orientations towards studies associated with the subjects discussed in the activity. The survey also demonstrated that participants gained a new understanding of the role of scientists in society.