STEM Education’s Impact: Shaping Future Careers and Mental Health

Beyond fostering critical thinking, this initiative aims to spark curiosity about science and technology and teach values such as empathy, resilience, and teamwork, which they believe will prepare them to lead technological transformation.

The World Economic Forum (WEF) indicates that automation and artificial intelligence (AI) are becoming increasingly significant, predicting that 23% of current jobs could be automated by 2025, while also forecasting the creation of 69 million new jobs in tech and sustainable areas.

Despite these opportunities, the job market faces the challenge of a talent shortage in tech sectors. According to an IBM report, rapid technological evolution creates a gap between available skills and market demands.

Empowering Youth in Technology

A study by NTT DATA in Latin America shows that 48% of companies view the lack of qualified talent as the biggest barrier to harnessing emerging technologies.

In Mexico, interest in STEM careers has risen in recent years, yet it still lags behind the global average. According to the STEM Indicators for Mexico report by Movimiento STEM, about 27% of university students in the country opt for a STEM career, compared to a 35% global average.

According to Georgina Castañeda, operations director of the Pinion Challenge, attracting students’ attention requires addressing topics that are relevant to them and make them feel their participation is valuable to society. The goal is for them to understand the impact of their actions in bringing about change, an approach that she says is already yielding results in the new generations.

In 2025, the challenge’s theme was mental health and it managed to gather 500 students in 67 teams, who competed in the finals on April 5. Gamin Cho, Fernanda Rivera, and María Emilia Delgado, students at Colegío Andrés San Luis Potosí, were finalists with their project MassaChair, a chair integrated with a cabin that uses lights and audio to induce relaxation and combat stress.

The users must complete a questionnaire developed by the students in collaboration with their teachers, including the school psychologist, to determine the type of lights and music to be used in the cabin.

The team told Expansión that they utilized generative AI for designing the chair and its presentation. They also mentioned that participating in the challenge allowed them to acquire new skills in carpentry, design, and electronics, and to empathize with people experiencing stress.

In the future, they hope their product will be used in schools and offices, where they believe this condition is common.

According to the National System for the Protection of Children and Adolescents, the COVID-19 pandemic worsened the situation for children and adolescents, leading to depression, eating disorders, anxiety, stress, violence, and suicide. The National Health and Nutrition Survey reports that the percentage of 10 to 19-year-olds who have considered suicide increased in recent years, from 5.1% in 2020 to 7.6% in 2022.

The National Survey of Self-Reported Well-Being by Inegi shows that 15.4% of the adult population exhibits symptoms of depression; 19.3% experience severe anxiety, and 31.3% show some degree of anxiety.

The Need for More Women in Science and Technology

A Microsoft report indicates that while 31% of elementary school girls are interested in programming, this percentage drops to 20% by university.

This trend is also evident in the Pinion Challenge. While the initiative generally has 46% male and 54% female participation, this is because female participation is higher at the elementary level but dramatically decreases in high school.

Pinion Education shared that in elementary school, the participation is 48.8% male and 51.2% female. In middle school, the ratio is 45% male to 55% female, but in high school, 75% of the contestants are male and only 25% are female.

The presence of instructors in education follows a particular trend as educational levels progress. In elementary school, the majority of instructors are women (65%), while men represent 35%. However, in middle school, female participation decreases to 57%, while male participation increases to 43%, showing an adjustment in distribution. The most drastic change occurs in high school, where all the instructors (100%) are men.

This trend across various technology-related fields perpetuates the shortage of role models, one of the reasons Microsoft cites for girls not envisioning themselves in these careers.

Of the group consisting of Cho, Rivera, and Delgado, only one mentioned she would like to pursue technology full-time in the future, while the other two said they would consider it as a hobby.