AMELIA: An AI Teaching Assistant for Equitable STEM Education in Rural Peru

AMELIA is an AI-powered chatbot designed to improve STEM education for teachers and students in rural Peru, where systemic barriers, gender inequality, and limited digital access restrict learning opportunities. By using AI through WhatsApp, AMELIA offers a low-cost, accessible tool built for low-connectivity environments. It provides learning activities, classroom guidelines, material specifications, and stories of women in STEM, all curated by experts and adapted to the Peruvian context. The program tackles persistent inequalities in STEM education, particularly for girls, who face sociocultural biases, resource scarcity, and underprepared teachers. AMELIA supports teachers with training and implementation guidance, boosts student engagement in STEM, and promotes gender inclusion by offering female role models. Currently active in Cajamarca with 120 teachers reaching 3,000 students, AMELIA has demonstrated strong engagement and received positive feedback for improving teaching practices. It was recently selected by the Ruralia 2024 Accelerator, signaling its scalability and innovation. Continuous improvement is driven by AI refinement, community input, and a monitoring system. Future goals include expanding to other rural regions, enhancing pedagogical resources, and involving families to reduce gender-based barriers. This paper presents AMELIA’s design, implementation, outcomes, and scaling strategies, offering a replicable model for leveraging AI to improve teaching practices and reduce gender and geographic disparities in STEM education.