Linden's Annual Science and Technology Fair

By Beth Alexander, STEM Teacher

“I love the Science Fair,” says Serena, Grade 8. “Even when it is stressful, I love it.”

On February 15th, the school was abuzz with young scientists and inventors showcasing their learning. The annual Science and Technology Fair is a chance for each girl to explore an area of her own interest, then use the scientific method or the engineering design process to make discoveries.

Students in all grades begin with a question: For example, Jade wondered if she could make a more efficient capacitor using graphene. Livia wanted to know if melting ice caps raised the water level around an island. Daragh was curious about the role of telomeres in the aging process.

Next come experimental design, testing, and analysis. Beatrice coordinated a large number of volunteers to determine whether or not certain types of music affected concentration — and learned that young people can memorize more when listening to U2! Polly was surprised to find out that Wifi didn't stunt the growth of plants as she had hypothesized.

Unexpected results along the way are par for the course, and learning how to adjust course is an important part of the engineering process. Samantha and Anna learned this while designing and testing their robot, for example. “We learned that the ultrasonic sensor didn't work well with our MegaPi micro-controller, so we switched to an mCore 'brain' for our robot,” reported Anna. “That solved the problem.”

Finishing the board and practising the presentation are not the end of the process for our young scientists and engineers. Presenting to and getting feedback from willing listeners is also an important part of the learning. And, sometimes, surprises arise during the evening itself. “Dad!” shouted Jade, proudly holding up her multimeter, “My capacitor is producing higher readings than ever before!”

Thank you to everyone who supported our annual Fair!