Originally published in STEM Magazine, June 1, 2026
Colombia has established itself as one of Latin America’s premier tech hubs, and the country’s demand for STEM talent has never been greater.
At Colegio CIEDI, an International Baccalaureate (IB) Continuum school in Bogotá, we are preparing our 450 pre-K-12 students for this new world of work with an innovative integrated STEM (i-STEM) learning model.
CIEDI’s STEM journey started around 2019 with a pioneering group of educators from diverse disciplines who came together to lead experiments and research on this educational approach. These educators – David de la Torre, Veder Garzon, Andres Canon, and Julian Perez from CIEDI’s Information and Communication Technology + Design department, alongside Diana Villa, Primary Science Leader, and Andrea Barrera, Middle Years Programme Coordinator and math expert – became the prime members of the school’s STEM leadership team, which still exists today.
Felipe Palacios, our Head of School, later instituted i-STEM in 2021 and after encountering it during his doctoral studies at the University of Melbourne, Australia. When he realized the model’s potential, he focused his doctoral research on innovative ways to make it part of primary and secondary school education.
Read the full article in STEM Magazine.
Read our Community Story about how Cognia and Colegio CIEDI partner to strengthen STEM education.