Linden’s Makers and Mathematicians Provide Powerful Stats for Virtual STEM Fair

An early learner shows off Kids Town.

On Wednesday, March 31, 2021, The Linden School’s annual STEM For A Better World Inquiry Fair took place in an innovative, online landscape. Each year, Linden’s students conduct studies to bring forth interesting and groundbreaking views to science and math, and the ways in which they can be applied to solve the world's problems. With the guidance of our STEM teachers, our students focused this year’s projects on the infinite world of mathematics. “It is inspiring to see how our students are able to look into the world around them and see ways they can make a positive difference — even at a time when their own school and home lives have become more challenging,” says STEM teacher Beth Alexander.

In a year of social distancing and isolation, our teachers and students worked to make sure everyone brought the same level of excitement to the virtual installment of the annual fair. In lieu of poster boards and aisles of presenters, the students filmed their presentations for our Willing Listeners to view at their convenience. Thank you to everyone who volunteered as a Willing Listener—your feedback helped bring new perspectives to the projects, as well as some normalcy to our STEM Fair.

After the founding of Kids Town in November, Tonja Armstrong-MacInnis helped our Early Learners understand and use their knowledge of math to convey the results of data they had collected, and construct a cityscape with recycled materials. “I learned that if you work very hard on something, you can do anything!” Early Learner Dagny says in reflection.

Grade 1 students proposing the budget for their candy store.

In Grade 1–2 with Sanchia Amor, the students conducted field research by proposing verbal polls to collect results then used in various types of graphs to display their data.

A Grade 2 student describes her research on: How does the environment influence the way we buy and sell things?

Rebecca Fisher and Melody Barclay focused the Grades 3–5 on the mining industry and the conservation of energy and resources. Savannah Barker’s Grade 6 class covered topics about refugees all around the world, such as access to healthcare and gender equality in education. “Though this topic is sad,” explains Grade 6 student Alina, “I thought it would also be interesting to see how hard the life of a refugee is, and how hard it’s grown to be due to the pandemic.”

Kelley Ruys de Perez and Sang Lee worked with the Grades 7–8 students who focused their projects on various social justice issues, like animal testing, housing affordability, and greenhouse gases. We also heard from students outlining hard facts about racism, mental health, and gun control in Canada.

Grade 9 students investigate disappearing mangroves.

A Grade 10 student looked into how CO2 impacts Coral Reefs.

Over on the high school side of Linden, Nasrin Matini’s Grade 9s studied in groups to tackle three heavy topics: water privatization, species extinction, and mental health disorders. Under the direction of Sang Lee, our Grade 10s used their STEM Fair project to highlight topics surrounding climate change.

Then, Deanna Harris and Sang Lee led our graduating class in projects that examined vaccination effectiveness with data management, as well as small-angle approximation.

Grade 12 students look at Vaccine Effectiveness.

Grade 12 students analyze small-angle approximation.

Congratulations to all of our students on presenting interesting and innovative projects for another successful STEM For A Better World Fair. Thank you to every teacher at The Linden School who helped guide our students in bringing together thoughtful pieces of work. And of course, one last thank you to our Willing Listeners volunteers who took time out of their day to complete their duties.