Children are natural scientists, they are always asking and looking for strategies to answer these questions. PAUTA addresses the children´s natural interest to develop skills that allow them to learn to learn through scientific thinking. PAUTA is a program where children enter from age 4 and can continue through the years until they turn 18.
In 2007, PAUTA was created as an initiative of two nuclear scientists who asked how to attract more children and young people to STEM careers. The answer was that children need to do science since they are they are very young.In PAUTA participants do science. It is not a conceptual learning but learning by doing. The methodology is based on the learning of science by inquiry.
A key aspect is the link with the scientific community that participates actively and closely with children through letters, videos, conferences, mentoring, evaluations, etc ...
Children put their skills into practice by developing a research project with social impact that responds to the problems they identify in their community.
In the workshops children do teamwork, so they learn to cooperate in order to achieve a goal.