On Thursday, May 6, the student contest in Chile, Soluciones para el Futuro 2021, began, which invites high school students to look for everyday problems in their communities and turn them into a solution through STEM (Sciences, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, for its acronym in English). In its 2020 edition, it had more than 1,100 young participants.
The International competition “Solve for tomorrow” (Solutions for the Future), developed more than 10 years ago worldwide by Samsung, and next to Fundación País Digital (FPD) since 2019 in Chile, launched on May 6, for the Youtube channel of Solutions for the Future, a new version 2021.
The student contest aims to encourage young people to use the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics), giving them skills and tools for conflict resolution that benefits their communities.
Along with the launch of this new version, on May 6, applications were opened for teams that wish to participate in the contest, which consists of presenting a problem in their community and, through STEM, seeking and delivering a solution.
To participate in the contest, teams must be made up of students between 14 and 19 years old and be in high school, be mixed groups, which include at least one woman in the group and are made up of a minimum of 2 and a maximum of 5 members. In addition, they must be guided by a leading teacher or tutor who will accompany them throughout the contest process.
Since 2019, the year in which the Samsung contest began to be held in alliance with Fundación País Digital, more than 2,060 students have participated in it, coming from all regions of the country, reaching more than 560 applications and over 480 schools involved. For this year, great interest is expected from the school community, after in 2020 more than 1,135 students participated in the contest and 53% female participation was obtained.
“Solve for Tomorrow is a very important initiative for Samsung. Not only does it encourage the learning of new technologies and STEM skills in young people, but it also invites them to take a more active role regarding the problems of their communities. It is an invitation for young people to become agents of change thanks to technology and that is something very powerful, “he said. Paulina Rodríguez, Corporate Citizenship Manager at Samsung Electronics Chile.
“The objective of the contest is that all students in the country have the opportunity to improve their problem-solving skills, as well as encourage them to collaborate and participate voluntarily within their environment, in such a way that they are a contribution to their communities” , points out Catalina Araya, Director of Education at Fundación País Digital.
The contest “Solve for tomorrow” It has various stages, in which the teams, in addition to detecting a daily problem that affects their community, must propose a solution and develop a prototype that allows them to respond to the issues raised. This is accompanied by the fact that all finalist students will be able to access Design Thinking training, which will allow them to further enhance their projects.
Solve for tomorrow invites young people to think about problems and to devise solutions, this is how in 2020, the students participating in the contest detected multiple problems to address, such as problems with water pollution, health, connectivity, recycling, transportation, security, technology and poverty, among others.
In 2020, “The Boring Team” was chosen as the winner of the contest. The team, belonging to various regions and localities of the country, such as Chiguayante, Santiago, Rengo and Coyhaique, and made up of Martina Novajas de Rengo, Benjamin Muñoz de Chiguayante, Alen Rubilar de Santiago and Gabriela Oyarzún de Coyhaique, together with their guide teacher Ariel Araneda, generated a solution represented by a prototype of a totem that visualizes the damage caused to the skin due to exposure to UV rays.
“It is super interesting to explore beyond what happens in the classroom and find contests that encourage you to learn by creating collaboratively. That space is provided by Solutions for the Future, because it opens the doors to experience science in an experimental way. It motivates us to put it into practice and give it a social approach so that we stop perceiving it as abstract knowledge ”, points out Martina Novajas, a student from the Rengo commune, winner 2020 with her team The Boring Team.
Stages of the contest
1. From May 6 to June 30, teams may register at www.solucionesparaelfuturo.cl.
2. In June, the 30 selected to continue in the contest will be announced.
3. In August, the 10 teams that are still in the race during the contest will be announced.
4. In September a popular vote will be invited through the website www.solucionesparaelfuturo.cl
5. In October the 5 finalists of the contest will be reported.
6. The final is scheduled for November, the month in which the winning team will be announced.
Prizes for contestants
This year, the contest has four categories, so that more students can win Samsung technology awards.
The first awarded category is the winning team, considering students and teachers, who will obtain for each participant a Samsung Galaxy A 72 Smartphone, a Samsung Galaxy Tab A 8 tablet, Samsung Galaxy Buds + wireless headphones, a Samsung Galaxy Watch Active smartwatch, and a workshop for the development of digital skills. The school that represents them will obtain 30 Samsung Galaxy Tab A tablets to support their educational project.
The second category corresponds to the four finalist teams, including students and a teacher, who will each obtain a Samsung Galaxy Tab A 8 tablet to continue enhancing their learning.
The third awarded category will be for the team with the most votes in the popular voting stage, it includes students and teacher, who will each get a Samsung Galaxy Watch Active smartwatch.
The last category, which this 2021 adds to the list, is an award to the school that submits the most registrations, who will win a 55-inch Samsung television, this award seeks to encourage educational establishments to seek new ways of learning through a contest , with which they can find new tools for project-based learning and creating new ways of teaching STEM to their students.
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