Shelton Elementary STEM Fair

Tuesday, January 30th, 2024

STEM = Science, Technology, Engineering, & Math

Email SheltonSEF@gmail.com with questions or ideas!

Shelton Elementary STEM Fair is a combination of: 
  • Science & Engineering Fair, where students submit a Science Experiment, Engineering Design, or Research Project using a tri-fold display board to show their findings, and 
  • Math & Science Night, where students and their families are exposed to all aspects of math, science, technology and engineering via hands-on learning opportunities. 

Important Links to Register and Volunteer

  • Registration will open in December.
  • STEM Professionals/Students – Contact SheltonPTSA@gmail.com if you would like to lead an activity or demo the evening of January 30th.
  • STEM Mentors & Volunteers – Contact SheltonPTSA@gmail.com if you are interested in being a STEM mentor during the school day on January 30th.
  • Who can be a STEM Mentor? Parents, caregivers, & community members with a background in STEM.

Event Timeline

NOW:
  • Help your students by encouraging them to ask questions and find solutions to problems.  
  • Watch the new Netflix show, Ada Twist Scientist, based on the children’s books by Andrea Beaty. “Together there is no problem they can’t solve!”
  • Encourage your students to check out books from the Shelton Library.  
  • Help your students check out books from the Golden Library.
  • Encourage your students to check out a STEM Kit from the Shelton Library to help provide a basis for a student project.
  • See below for how to get started with a project for more ideas.

STEM Assembly:
  • During school, before the fair, students will be introduced to the basics of how to complete a Science, Engineering, or Research Project for the STEM Fair.

Deadline to register will be in mid-January 2024.
  • Hosting a hands-on activity or demo at the evening fair is a wonderful way to help students get excited about all things STEM! Please consider hosting an activity or demo.
  • Deadline to register a Student Project will be in mid-January.

Monday, January 29th:
  • Students turn in display boards for their projects. Details to come.
  • ​Volunteers help set up tables in the gym and set up the student projects. Volunteer sign up will be available in early January.
​
Tuesday, January 30th – Day of the Fair:
  • During the School Day – Each class will sign up for a time to view the Student Projects.  During that time STEM Mentors share with students about their STEM jobs & students share about their projects to their classmates, teacher, and a STEM Mentor. STEM Mentor sign up will be in December/January.
  • ​5:00 to 5:30PM – STEM Fair Presenters set up their hands-on activities and demos.
  • 5:30 to 7:30PM – STEM Fair is open for all students and families. Students with projects will be encouraged to stand by their projects for some portion of the evening to share their project with other students and families, more details to come. We hope to be able to provide some easy food options in the cafeteria, more details to come. There will not be an award ceremony. All students will receive meaningful feedback from teachers, classmates, and STEM Mentors based on Jeffco Science Standards.
  • ​7:30PM – Volunteers needed to help clean up & take down tables. Students are asked to take their projects home when they leave the Fair.​

​FAQs for Student Projects

Who can be a STEM Mentor?
  • Parents, caregivers, & community members that have a background in STEM.
 
Can students work in groups to complete a project?
  • Yes!  Students can work alone or in groups of up to 3.  
 
What are the main differences between Science, Engineering and Research projects?
  • Science experiments are designed to answer a question, such as how does this affect that?
  • Engineering projects typically involve designing or creating something that solves a problem.
  • Research projects look for answers to questions that can be found in books such as how does this work or why does this happen?
 
How should the project be presented?
  • The preferred method for presenting individual projects is a 3-panel display board to help the students organize their thoughts when they present their project to their classmates, teacher, and STEM Mentors. You can elect for a board to be sent home with your student when they register.  Or, these can be found at the dollar store, grocery store, or office supply stores.
  • Please see the Resources section lower down for more information about how to organize the display board.
  • Contact SheltonSEF@gmail.com if help is needed with purchasing project materials.
 
How should students come up with an idea?
  • Students are encouraged to get creative and inspired.  They can brainstorm any big questions they may have and think of ways to simplify the question to a testable hypothesis, new invention, or research topic.
  • Check out books from the Shelton and Golden Libraries.
  • The Shelton library is also developing hands-on STEM kits that can be checked out and used as the basis of a project.
  • The internet has lots of resources for inspiring questions and projects.  See the links below in Resources for some ideas.
 
How much parental support should be provided?
  • Parents are needed to provide support and a successful experience, but the ideas and work should be primarily from the student(s).  Students will have more fun and be more motivated if they are given more freedom to ‘drive’ the experience and ideas.
 
What if English is a second language?
  • Students are welcome and encouraged to complete their project in whatever language they are most comfortable in.  Contact SheltonSEF@gmail.com if you have questions or concerns.
 
How much does it cost to do a project?
  • Many projects are free or low cost.
  • The Shelton library is developing free hands-on kits that can be checked out to help support student projects.
  • If you have additional concerns about getting materials for a project, please contact the organizing committee at SheltonSEF@gmail.com.

Resources:

​Websites with project ideas and guides:
Downloadable Templates for Log Books and Display Board Headings: ​
Main Parts of the 3-Panel/Tri-Fold Display Board:
  • Project Title
  • Your Name(s), Grade(s), What Class are in?
  • Question - What did you investigate? 
  • Background research (optional)
  • Hypothesis - Prediction (guess) about the results (not needed for research projects)
  • Variables and Constants (optional – click for more information)
    • Independent Variables are things that are changed by the scientist (you).  It's best to only pick one variable to change.  
    • Constants are things you keep the same throughout the experiment.  
  • Materials list - What did you use to accomplish your experiment or design build?
  • Methods - What did you do?  Provide a step-by-step guide.
  • Data analysis, Results - An explanation of what you found.  Chart(s) and graph(s) are great to explain results.
  • Conclusions - Was your hypothesis correct? What did you learn? Do you have additional questions that weren't answered?  Are there other ideas for future research/experiments?  
  • Bibliography - Names of any books, articles, websites or other materials you used.  Include anyone (parents, friends, etc.) and any source of information that helped you.