The annual science fair in March is a much-awaited event for students who are interested in the STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, mathematics). The science fair, now officially called the STEM fair is a chance for students to get together with professionals from all around the island and create a hypothesis for an experiment they are interested in or a problem they want to solve.
“Participation in the STEM fair provides students with a way to explore their own personal interests and gain a better understanding of the scientific method and how research is actually conducted in the real world,” said STEM mentor Karen Beattie, who serves as the science and stewardship manager at the Nantucket Conservation Foundation.
“The results and conclusions are obviously the end goals, but almost more important is the troubleshooting and problem solving experience gained from having to design the project and collect and interpret the data. You can read about how this process works in a textbook, but there is no substitute for the lessons you learn from actually doing it yourself.”
This is Beattie’s first year as a mentor for the STEM fair. She will be joined by Sarah Bois from the Linda Loring Nature Foundation, David Gagnon from Maria Mitchell Association and Andrew Mckenna-Foster from the Maria Mitchell Association. Judges for this year are not chosen yet, but three to four local scientists will be recruited to judge projects.
The director of the STEM Fair, Nantucket High School math teacher Jedediyah Williams, expressed his excitement for the program and how it will be different this year.
“In terms of evolving from just the science fair to the STEM fair, is a big difference,” said Williams. “The goal in that is to just broaden the scope to more than just science and more to the aspects of technology, engineering and math.”
Beattie said similar things about the changes being made to the fair this year saying, “I think the main difference is that it is no longer just a ‘science’ fair- it now also includes technology, engineering and mathematics. This is an improvement because all of these disciplines are interconnected, so it will provide students with a broader range of topics and options to choose from when developing their projects and hopefully appeal to more people.”
The fair in recent years has also changed from a mandatory activity that was once included in the science curriculum to an optional activity run adjacent to the school. This has reduced the number of students that participate, but increased the quality of the projects submitted because the students involved are highly motivated and take part because they want to, not because it is required as part of their grade,” said Beattie.
Though this has been a setback regarding participation, it has also spurred on the project in an independent manner. It allows for students to have more freedom and responsibility regarding how they pick their project, how they organize it, and how they present it. The mentors can be very helpful in this area, especially in the preliminary planning of the project.
“I see us as advisors that can help in several ways,” said Beattie. “We can talk through ideas and help develop them from general concepts to specific research questions that are testable and do not measure too many different variables. We can also help identify methods, equipment and resources needed for collecting data and make suggestions about how to analyze, interpret and present the results.”
Though the work and planning for the individual projects will take place throughout the winter, the fair will take place on March 17.
“We hope to have 10 or more projects present at the STEM Fair and we hope all the students take on projects that are of personal interest to them, said Mckenna-Foster. “Once again, the Nantucket Biodiversity Initiative will sponsor a first place project with $500. There will be additional cash prizes for 2nd and 3rd place and every participant receives something. Last year it was gift cards to the Handlebar Café.”
The STEM Fair will happen in the NHS cafeteria where the presentation and judging of the projects will take place. “Also, the weekend after the STEM Fair there will be a Science Festival at the high school with science demonstrations and activities,” said Mckenna-Foster. “We hope that STEM Fair students will help run the event and we will also have their posters up for the Nantucket community to see. Some of the best jobs available now are science related and Nantucket students should have the same opportunities to learn skills needed in those fields as off island kids. STEM Fair is a great way to do that.”
The Science Festival McKenna-Foster mentioned is on March 19.
just found like all of the sources I need (including science journals) for my STEM fair paper through google scholar??? which I have never heard of ever before tonight, but apparently it limits your google searches to solely academic literature.
go there and research like the wind my doves! RESEARCH LIKE THE WIND
