How children, families, communities, educators, scientists, and AI can #WeAllPlayAPart in protecting biodiversity and building a culture of science

1. Overview

Science is a fundamental human right. Yet access to scientific information alone is not enough. People also need the confidence to ask questions, the ability to examine evidence, the skills to navigate information critically, and opportunities to participate in the creation and communication of knowledge.

This activity presents a practical application of Science Culture Construction (SCC) through the exploration of the biodiversity and cultural heritage of Lake Titicaca. It brings together Media and Information Literacy (MIL), artificial intelligence, biodiversity education, Indigenous and local knowledge, scientific evidence, and family participation in an interactive learning experience.

At the center of the activity are two complementary technologies:

• Biopochito AI serves as a conversational and curiosity-driven companion, encouraging children to ask questions, formulate follow-up questions, and explore possibilities rather than simply receiving predetermined answers.
• The Living Portal AI provides the broader interactive knowledge environment, connecting participants with biodiversity information, scientific resources, ecological knowledge, cultural heritage, and related learning materials.

Together, they create an ecosystem in which participants can move from curiosity to exploration, from exploration to understanding, and from understanding to responsible participation and action.

The activity is designed around the UNESCO MIL Week 2026 spirit of #WeAllPlayAPart, recognizing that building a culture of science is a shared responsibility.

2. The Central Principle: Start with a Question

We do not begin by giving children answers.

We begin by giving them the confidence to ask questions.

A child looking at Lake Titicaca might ask:

• Why is the lake so important?
• What animals live there?
• Why are some species found only there?
• How do scientists know that a species is endangered?
• What can a frog tell us about the health of the lake?
• How do Indigenous communities understand changes in the environment?
• Can AI help us understand nature?
• Can we trust everything an AI tells us?

These questions become the starting point for exploration.

The objective is not simply to transmit knowledge, but to cultivate curiosity, critical thinking, scientific literacy, information literacy, and informed participation.

3. The Living Portal AI: Connecting Curiosity, Knowledge, and Participation

The activity will utilize the Living Portal AI as the interactive digital environment connecting children, families, educators, scientific information, biodiversity resources, local knowledge, and cultural heritage.

The Living Portal is conceived not simply as a repository of information, but as an adaptive knowledge and participation ecosystem. It allows participants to explore questions, discover related information, connect different forms of knowledge, and develop their own pathways of inquiry.

Within the activity, the Living Portal will provide access to resources related to:

• Lake Titicaca biodiversity;
• endemic and native species;
• ecological relationships;
• conservation challenges;
• scientific evidence;
• Indigenous and local ecological knowledge;
• cultural heritage;
• environmental change; and
• responsible communication about science and nature.

Biopochito AI functions within this ecosystem as the conversational companion. It encourages children to ask questions, respond to counter-questions, explore “what if?” scenarios, and continue their inquiry.

This distinction is important: Biopochito is not intended to replace teachers, parents, scientists, or knowledge holders. Instead, it provides an accessible conversational entry point through which children can develop the confidence to explore knowledge.

The Living Portal provides the broader environment in which those questions can be connected, examined, and shared.

The resulting pathway is:

Ask → Explore → Examine → Verify → Connect → Communicate → Act

This is a practical expression of Science Culture Construction.

4. Workshop Structure — 70 Minutes

Part 1 — Start with a Question

10 minutes

Biopochito AI opens the activity with:

“If you could ask one question about Lake Titicaca, what would it be?”

Participants observe images of the lake, its biodiversity, people, and cultural heritage.

Children and families formulate their own questions rather than being given a predefined lesson.

The questions themselves become part of the activity.

Part 2 — AI Dialogue: Ask, Question, Verify

20 minutes

Participants interact with Biopochito AI through the Living Portal.

Instead of functioning as a simple answer machine, Biopochito encourages dialogue:

Child asks → Biopochito responds → Biopochito asks a follow-up question → Child explores → Living Portal provides related resources → Child examines the information.

For example:

Child: “Why is the Lake Titicaca frog special?”

The interaction can lead to questions about:

• What does “endemic” mean?
• Where else can this species live?
• What evidence do scientists use to study its conservation status?
• What threats does it face?
• What can communities do to protect its habitat?

The activity therefore introduces an important MIL principle:

Do not simply ask whether information sounds convincing. Ask how we know it.

Children are encouraged to recognize that AI can help us explore information, but AI itself must also be approached critically.

5. Part 3 — Discovering the Living Lake

15 minutes

Participants explore physical objects, specimens, photographs, and cultural materials representing Lake Titicaca and the surrounding Andean environment.

The exhibition can include approximately 12 objects or visual resources organized around three categories.

A. Endemic and Key Species

Examples include:

• Lake Titicaca water frog (Telmatobius culeus)
• Orestias fish

Participants learn to distinguish concepts such as:

endemic → native → introduced

The focus is not simply on memorizing species names, but on understanding how scientists classify and study biodiversity.

B. High-Andean Biodiversity

Examples include:

• Palomita Moteada Dorada
• Catita Frentidorada
• Lechucita de las Vizcacheras
• Vizcacha de Montaña

Participants are encouraged to ask:

What do we know about this species? How do we know it? What evidence supports the information?

C. Cultural Heritage

Examples include:

• Balsa de Totora
• Cesta de Pesca Uro

Here the question changes:

“What knowledge does this object represent?”

This creates an opportunity to distinguish between:

• scientific knowledge;
• Indigenous and local ecological knowledge;
• traditional practices;
• cultural heritage; and
• claims that can be investigated through scientific methods.

Different knowledge traditions can enter into respectful dialogue without assuming that they are identical or scientifically equivalent.

6. Part 4 — Knowledge in Dialogue

10 minutes

The activity introduces a central principle of Science Culture Construction:

Knowledge grows through dialogue.

Scientific knowledge, Indigenous knowledge, local ecological observation, cultural memory, and lived experience may approach the natural world in different ways.

The objective is neither to romanticize traditional knowledge nor to dismiss it.

Instead, participants are invited to ask:

• What has been observed?
• Who has observed it?
• Over what period of time?
• How is the knowledge transmitted?
• What evidence is available?
• Which claims can be scientifically investigated?
• What remains uncertain?
• How can different knowledge traditions contribute to understanding complex ecological systems?

This approach helps children develop not only respect for cultural diversity, but also the critical capacity to distinguish evidence, interpretation, experience, and belief.

7. Part 5 — Family Co-Creation: #WeAllPlayAPart

15 minutes

Children and parents are invited to create a short message responding to:

“What message would you send to someone in another country about protecting Lake Titicaca?”

Participants can use the Living Portal to explore information and develop their message.

The final message should combine:

evidence + empathy + creativity + responsibility.

The activity emphasizes that communication itself is part of environmental stewardship.

A child can become a communicator.

A parent can become an encourager.

A teacher can become a facilitator.

A scientist can become a source of evidence.

A community can become a guardian of knowledge.

An AI developer can become a builder of responsible technology.

An institution can become a connector.

We all play a part.

8. Media and Information Literacy: Ask → Examine → Verify → Communicate

The activity translates MIL into a simple, practical process.

ASK

What do I want to know?

EXAMINE

Where does this information come from?

VERIFY

What evidence supports it? What remains uncertain?

COMMUNICATE

How can I share this information responsibly?

This is particularly important in an AI-enabled world.

A scientifically literate child should not simply ask an AI for an answer.

A scientifically literate child should be able to ask:

“How do you know?”

and then continue:

“What is the evidence?”

“Can I verify it?”

“Are there other perspectives?”

This is where Science Culture Construction and Media and Information Literacy meet.

9. The Role of Biopochito AI

Biopochito AI is presented as a curiosity-centered conversational companion.

Its approach emphasizes:

• curiosity rather than passive knowledge transfer;
• dialogue rather than one-way instruction;
• questions rather than memorization;
• scientifically grounded information rather than unsupported claims;
• participation rather than passive consumption;
• cultural adaptation rather than a one-size-fits-all approach.

Most importantly, Biopochito does not replace human relationships.

It does not replace:

the teacher, the parent, the scientist, or the community.

It helps create another pathway through which children can enter into dialogue with knowledge.

10. The Role of the Living Portal

The Living Portal expands this approach beyond a single AI conversation.

It provides the ecosystem in which questions, information, resources, people, and knowledge can be connected.

In the Lake Titicaca activity, it becomes a bridge between:

Child ↔ AI ↔ Scientific Knowledge ↔ Biodiversity ↔ Culture ↔ Community ↔ Action

This transforms the activity from a conventional digital lesson into an interactive Science Culture Construction environment.

The goal is not simply to make children better consumers of information.

The goal is to help them become active participants in a culture of science.

11. Lake Titicaca as a Living Classroom

Lake Titicaca is particularly appropriate for this approach because it is simultaneously:

• an ecosystem;
• a biodiversity hotspot;
• a place of human history and culture;
• a source of livelihoods;
• a site of Indigenous knowledge;
• a subject of scientific research; and
• a living environment facing contemporary challenges.

It therefore allows participants to experience science not as an isolated school subject, but as something connected to life, culture, environment, society, and responsibility.

The lake becomes a living classroom in which scientific questions and human questions meet.

12. #WeAllPlayAPart

The activity translates the UNESCO MIL Week 2026 spirit into concrete participation.

Children

Ask questions, explore information, and communicate what they discover.

Families

Encourage curiosity and support responsible information use.

Educators

Create environments where questions are valued.

Scientists

Provide evidence, context, and scientific expertise.

Indigenous and Local Communities

Share knowledge, observations, practices, and cultural perspectives.

AI Developers

Build responsible, accessible, culturally adaptive technologies.

Institutions

Connect knowledge, people, resources, and opportunities.

No single actor can build a culture of science alone.

We all play a part.

13. Science Culture Construction in Practice

The activity demonstrates that Science Culture Construction is not simply another form of science communication.

It is a broader paradigm in which science becomes integrated into:

education + culture + technology + society + citizenship + sustainability.

Science should not remain confined to laboratories, universities, conferences, and publications.

It should become part of everyday life.

And access to scientific information is only the beginning.

People need the ability to:

• ask;
• question;
• investigate;
• evaluate evidence;
• recognize uncertainty;
• communicate responsibly;
• participate; and
• act.

That is the culture we seek to construct.

14. From Curiosity to Action

The activity follows a simple transformation:

Curiosity

↓

Question

↓

Exploration

↓

Evidence

↓

Understanding

↓

Participation

↓

Action

↓

Culture of Science

The ultimate objective is not to produce children who know more facts about Lake Titicaca.

It is to help produce children who feel confident saying:

“I have a question.”

and then:

“I want to find out.”

and finally:

“I can do something with what I have learned.”

15. Closing Challenge

The activity concludes with one final question:

“What is one question you still have about Lake Titicaca—and what will you do with the answer?”

This question captures the philosophy of the entire initiative.

One child.
One question.
One shared responsibility.

From Biopochito AI to the Living Portal; from Media and Information Literacy to Science Culture Construction; from curiosity to participation—the objective is to create spaces where science becomes accessible, meaningful, culturally connected, and part of everyday life.

Science is a fundamental human right.

And building a culture in which everyone can participate in science is a responsibility we all share.

#WeAllPlayAPart