STEAM Expo

Science Fair, Invention Convention & Interactive Showcase

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Dr. Heather Wygant- Science Coordinator hwygant@santacruzcoe.org

Updating Science Fair to a STEAM Expo

The Santa Cruz County Office of Education has moved from a traditional science fair model to a STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics) EXPO in order to advance equitable access to inquiry-based learning.

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The purpose of the Santa Cruz County STEAM Expo is to...

• Promote the STEAM identities of ALL students
• Integrate culturally relevant & real world problem solving
• Engage students in collaborating, communicating and taking action
• Highlight critical thinking and creativity
• Connect students, teachers, industry & community partners
• Foster interest in STEAM careers
• Support implementation of the California State Standards

Updating Science Fair to STEAM Expo- What is it?

A Community Level Exent for the whole family!

Includes

• Science Fair competition
• Invention competition
• Art showcase
• Student Performances
• Robotics- build & drive!

• Math Activities
• Coding challenges and Robot skills
• Hands-on activities
• Career connections
• CTE pathway demonstrations
• And more!

How does Science Fair support Content Standards?

STEAM Expo is aligned to NGSS and CCSS as well as Inquiry-Based Designing Solutions protocols

• NGSS standards that are used in Science Investigations & Inventions:
• Plan & carry out investigations using mathematical and computational thinking
• Develop and use models, analyze & interpret data, and to construct explanations & design solutions (sensemaking)
• Argue based on Evidence, and communicate information effectively

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• CCSS standards that are used in Science Investigations & Inventions:
• Read, write, and speak grounded in evidence
• Construct viable arguments & critique reasoning of others
• Engage in argument from evidence
• Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them
• Model with mathematics
• Obtain, report, synthesize & report findings

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How can we incorporate these type of projects?

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• Performance tasks that ask students what their next step would be to find out more
• Inquiry-based and Design Projects that test and evaluate solutions or problems
• In-class projects that allow students to go a step further
• After school projects that design, test and evaluate solutions or problems
• CTE based projects that design, test and evaluate solutions or problems
• AP and IB projects that design, test and evaluate solutions or problems

Science Investigation or Invention

What is the difference?

Science Investigations-

These are experiments that test a hypothesis: an assumption or suggestion made strictly for the objective of being tested.

Inventions-

These are engineering designs that are new creations or improvements on a design to solve a problem, with a prototype that has been evaluated for its effectiveness.

Safety Considerations

All Laboratory Experiments should follow reasonable Safety Guidelines

Grades 6-8 Investigations that involve the following must have Safety Pre-approval Prior to experimentation:

Humans, vertebrate animals, mold, fungus, bacteria, bodily fluids, any potentially dangerous substance

For more information- see the Safety Review on the STEAM Expo site

Hosting a Site Fair

Resources to start a site science fair:

General Timeline

• Fall- Notify students & parents
• Late Fall- Begin projects
• End January- Finish Project
• February- Hold Site Fair & promote to County!

Santa Cruz County STEAM Expo date typically the first week of March, deadline to register is 3 weeks prior to STEAM Expo date.

How do students sign up to compete?

For both Science Investigation and Invention Projects-

Guide to registering students on zFairs

• Includes list of all items needed for complete registration
• Shows screenshots and gives detailed step-by-step directions to complete registration

Guide to Categories describes all the different categories

• Invention has its own category!

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Resources

STEAM Expo website: https://steamexpo.santacruzcoe.org/home

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Pages with resources specific for:

• Students
• Teachers
• Project Types
• Safety

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