Support for adolescents with high abilities from the University of Cantabria: Experience of the Amentúrate program (III edition).

Abstract

Amentúrate is an initiative developed by the Faculty of Education of the University of Cantabria with the support of the Regional Ministry of Education and the Cantabrian Association for the Support of High Abilities (ACAACI). The central axis of its activity revolves around mentoring processes between teachers and researchers of the University of Cantabria and students with high pre-university abilities. The purpose of this program is that the entire educational community, families and pre-university students with high abilities can participate in scientific activities carried out at the University that promote their cognitive, socioaffective and creative enrichment, and that encourage their scientific, humanistic, technological or artistic vocations through experimentation. At the same time, it is a program that raises awareness of the current understanding of high abilities and evaluates the personal impact that mentoring, as a successful educational action, has for these students. At the end of the III edition of the program this year 2021, we can say that the experience, even in its virtual modality due to the pandemic situation, has been satisfactory. Specifically, we highlight the following positive aspects: (1) it has helped to cover initial needs at the individual and family level; (2) the project has been disseminated to the community with its high participation in activities promoted by the UCC+i; and (3) it has supported gender equality in the scientific world, promoting gender parity among participating mentors, as well as in the access of young people to the program.