Abstracto
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BACKGROUNG
The Technological University of Panama (UTP) has developed different methodologies that promote participation in scientific research at undergraduate levels, in order to expose students to critical thinking and new techniques based on current scientific results and cutting-edge technologies. Based on the mission of the UTP, to provide society with qualified, entrepreneurial and innovative human capital, with comprehensive training, critical and socially responsible thinking, in engineering, science and technology, the initiative of the Undergraduate Research Conference (URC) is established. within the Institution at the national level and with the inclusion of other institutions of the national university system. The Undergraduate Research Conference consists of introducing undergraduate students to research through project-based learning inside and outside the classroom in a structured way. These research projects follow a scientific methodology and the requirement to be evaluated as part of the JIC is to have written a scientific article that could be published. The URC has been held at the national level at the URC since 2015 uninterruptedly, and at the national level, where all universities in the country can participate from 2016 to 2021 with the exception of 2020 due to the pandemic. Universities in developing countries such as Panama have a shortcoming in the development of a research culture and their scientific production is limited. The URC becomes a catalyst to promote a culture of research in the country's universities at the undergraduate level, as well as the continuous search for knowledge in these students in the universities of Panama. Maltese et. to the. [1] has scientifically demonstrated that undergraduate research improves the following skills: reading and understanding of the scientific literature, research data collection, computational programming, data analysis and interpretation, scientific communication, understanding of the research process. research in the field and the laboratory, and confidence in investigative skills. The URC program has 6 stages: promotion, training, pre-selection or institutional selection, national selection, awards and participation in some scientific activity to present the research project. Among the strategies for the participants, both students and advisors, to develop research skills, training is contemplated through workshops from the beginning of the year until before the evaluation of the research projects in the National Undergraduate Research Conference. These workshops are developed in the following areas: 1. URC-Boot Camp – For professors and students new to the URC, development of ideas to investigate, formulation of hypotheses or project design, writing of the scientific article and preparation of a poster. 2. Strategies for the preparation of scientific articles. 3. Strategies for the preparation of scientific posters, in this area both the scientific content and its visualization are considered. These strategies will be taught using simple tools such as Publisher or PowerPoint. 4. Use of anti-plagiarism tools. 5. Workshops for analysis of results, which include aspects such as available tools, design of experiments, data presentation, data manipulation and analysis. They are blended, virtual, as well as short online courses to have a greater reach. Among the results of this program, the projects generated by the students from careers related with Mechanical Engineering of the UTP, who have won the first places, stand out. The URC has been a key program to promote research in Mechanical Engineering students, which has allowed them to face challenges and develop new skills, making them capable of generating, disseminating and using knowledge.