{"id":3519,"date":"2022-08-22T15:42:12","date_gmt":"2022-08-22T18:42:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/solvefortomorrowlatam.com\/pratica\/education-stem-antenna-wi-fi-internet-for-all\/"},"modified":"2023-02-02T14:15:08","modified_gmt":"2023-02-02T17:15:08","slug":"education-stem-antenna-wi-fi-internet-for-all","status":"publish","type":"pratica","link":"https:\/\/solvefortomorrowlatam.com\/en\/case\/education-stem-antenna-wi-fi-internet-for-all\/","title":{"rendered":"Students enable free internet connection, turning the school into a wi-fi hub"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Among the many impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, student connectivity inequality was a deeply evident issue. And that was no different in Barranquilla, Colombia\u2019s fourth largest city, with more than 2 million inhabitants. Directly affected by this issue, a group of 11th-grade students from the Instituci\u00f3n Educativa Comunitaria Metropolitana de Barranquilla decided it was time to face it. With the support of the computer and School Investigation teacher, Alex Gonz\u00e1lez Jurado, three girls and a boy managed to transform the school into a wi-fi antenna, working within a radius of up to? 1km.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alex, teacher for four years at the school, has been dedicated to transforming the school culture in which computer science is a subject focused on the use of softwares. In \u200b\u200bhis classes he works with the STEM <\/a>logic, looking for solutions to existing problems in the community. \u201cMy focus is on helping them understand and create technologies to solve everyday issues,\u201d he explains. In addition to being responsible for all computer classes from 6th to 11th grade, he is the head of the School\u2019s Research subject, in which, through projects, rational and scientific methods are approached as a way of understanding society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\n Single journey <\/h5>\n

Students in the 10th and 11th grades of the school take part in the Jornada \u00danica<\/a>, an extended journey model that brings together the final years of education with technical labor titles, offered in partnership with universities in the region.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

By identifying that less than 35% of the students at the school (which serves about 1200 children and students from the lowest social strata) had access to broadband internet, the project group, during School Research classes, decided to overcome the challenge of offering free connectivity, transforming the school into a community internet provider; a big router, capable of spreading the signal beyond the institution\u2019s walls. The connection combines a local air network and a city network, building a kind of intranet, in which, in addition to accessing the network, a space for exchanging information and synchronous tasks is made possible for teachers and students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n