Diseño de una guía metodológica para desarrollar el pensamiento crítico por medio de la articulación del enfoque STEM con los proyectos ambientales escolares (PRAE) de instituciones educativas en Colombia: caso de estudio colegio Innova Schools Zipaquirá

Abstract

This research presents the design and implementation of a STEM–PRAE seedbed named “Innovers por el Páramo: Guerrero, corazón del territorio,” developed at Innova Schools Zipaquía (Cundinamarca, Colombia) between March and May 2026, with the participation of 34 secondary school students. The study follows a qualitative participatory action research (PAR) approach with reflective cycles and mixed data collection methods. Instruments included a baseline perception questionnaire (n = 33), digital field journals (S01–S07), a STEM-PRAE competency framework with fifteen indicators across five areas (Scientific, Technological, Engineering, Mathematical, and Sociocomunitaria), and a knowledge-management tool based on interconnection graphs that visualized in real time the relationships among sessions, pedagogical strategies, and activated competencies. Results show that the Scientific and Sociocultural areas concentrated the highest activation density (13 and 12 connections, respectively), while the S–E, S–SC, and E–SC pairs co occurred in all executed sessions, providing empirical evidence of sustained transdisciplinary integration. As an emergent outcome, a mixed student team won first place at the DesafIA la Educación competition (Universidad de los Andes, 2026) with a proposal for organic waste separation using artificial intelligence. The systematization of the experience produced a twenty page methodological guide replicable in other primary and secondary schools. Findings suggest that STEM–PRAE articulation, mediated by inquiry-based learning, engineering design, and peer mentoring strategies, strengthens territorial environmental awareness and STEM competency development in rural and peri-urban school contexts in Colombia.