Steps to a Fun and Successful STEM Project For all stillmeadow students in grades K-5

What is STEM Night? STEM is an acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. Focusing education in these disciplines is essential for student success, and STEM education can be applied to real-world practices. Stillmeadow’s STEM Night will give students the opportunity to research a STEM topic that interests them. Students will gain knowledge, motivation and confidence. STEM Night is open to everyone and will include hands-on stations with teachers to solve STEM based-problems in a fun and encouraging way.

Find a topic of interested and turn it into a STEM project Favorite Things: Dinosaurs Baking Art Baseball Gardening Music Gymnastics Interesting Project Ideas: Dinosaurs – What are some dinosaurs you have never heard of? Baking – How are baking soda and baking powder different? Art – How can you turn tangrams into animals? Baseball - How has pitching speed changed over the years? Gardening – How does ground coffee in soil affect plant growth? Music – What is sound? Gymnastics – What is centripetal force?

Use the Many Resources for Help Website Resources: www.science buddies.org www.freesciencefairprojects.com www.education.com/science-fair/ Use the Stillmeadow Library or Stamford libraries to find science books! For students who register, teachers will be available afterschool on select days to help students understand the Scientific Method and create display boards. Students may work with a Stillmeadow partner for their project.

The Scientific Method After the initial research about their selected topic: Define the question Student should come up with a question about the topic that really interests him/her. Form a hypothesis Student should make an educated prediction based on their research. Perform the experiment Student should design an investigation to answer their question. Collect and analyze data Pictures, graphs and charts are all part of the data. Make a conclusion What did the student learn? Was their hypothesis correct? What opinions did they have?

Create a Display Board for the STEM Project

Do’s and Don’t of STEM Projects Call your child a scientist. Be encouraging and give guidance. Have your children use the scientific method. Give them computer time to research their project and find ideas. Get them to the library for books and the store to buy materials. State their resources. Have them practice the presentation aloud multiple times to you. DON’T Don’t do the research for your child. Don’t let your child do anything dangerous. Don’t bring live animals, chemicals, or any battery larger than 12 volts. Also, keep messy projects contained or at home. A display board with many pictures can be just as interesting. Don’t force you child to create a STEM project. It HAS to be fun for them! All kids are invited to come to STEM Night to see what their peers have done.

Expectations on May 19, 2017 Your child must have a completed display board and the ability to present their project to others. Your child MAY also have something from their project to share that can be looked at or touched. Bring projects to Stillmeadow by 6:00pm on 5/19 in the gymnasium. We plan to have “judges” ask each participant to share their project. No winners or losers. STEM Night begins at 6:30pm. Students need to be standing by their project from 6:30 until approximately 7pm to present as judges and Stillmeadow families walk around the displays. After 7pm, students may leave and return to their project through the remainder of the STEM Night which ends at 8:30. Projects need to be taken home that night and can be removed from the gym at 7:45 or later.