CNPq has extended the deadline for proposals to the Mais Ciência na Escola program until August 20, which will invest R$100 million in the creation of 1,000 fabrication labs – spaces for prototyping and innovation, where young people can bring their ideas and projects to life – in public schools across the country, with priority given to those in the last years of primary education located in areas of high social vulnerability.

The product of a partnership between the Ministries of Science, Technology and Innovation (MCTI) and Education (MEC), and implemented by the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq), the initiative seeks to transform basic education, promoting digital and scientific education for an inclusive and innovative future for all students, within the framework of inclusive education.

The resources come from the Conecta e Capacita Brasil program, one of the ten investment lines identified by the National Fund for Scientific and Technological Development (FNDCT) Council in 2023, within the scope of MCTI's National Strategy for Science, Technology and Innovation.

Mais Ciência na Escola is part of the National Connected Schools Strategy and the Escola em Tempo Integral program, which aims to provide digital literacy, media education, combat misinformation and diversify the expansion of school time through research-based learning, scientific experimentation and the STEAM approach (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics), with an emphasis on student leadership.

The call aims to select proposals from scientific, technological and innovative institutions for the creation of state networks. Proposals should include plans for activities that promote digital literacy and scientific and technological education for primary school students and teachers.

The program aims to implement fabrication labs in public schools, creating equipped spaces where students can transform ideas into collaborative, creative, and reflective projects, and promoting digital literacy and science education through hands-on experimentation.

In addition to funding the laboratories, the resources will support teacher training through the proposed ICT, enhance the involvement of teachers and scholarship students from universities in schools, and encourage the expansion of the curriculum. For these initiatives, CNPq grants will be awarded to country and network coordinators, teachers from participating schools, external experts, undergraduate, secondary and final-year primary school students.

Click here for full consultation. CNPq/MCTI/FNDCT Call for Applications and Capacities No. 13/2024 – More Science in School Program.

Source: CNPq