Increase Your Engagement at STEM Fest
by Becky Swiontek, NIU STEAM Educator
Are you headed to STEM Fest and looking for some ways to support engagement with our exhibitors? Whether you are an educator, youth leader, parent or other enthusiastic individual bringing young, inquisitive minds to campus, we have options for you!
As a high school science teacher for fourteen years, I often found myself in the following situation: at the start of class I would enthusiastically ask my students, “Who can recap for us what we learned about yesterday? Who can summarize for our absent students what we worked on?” More often than not, what followed next was the all too familiar sound of silence and blank stares looking back at me.
I am also a proud auntie of two nieces who are currently in preschool and early elementary. When I ask them, “How was school today? What did you do? What did you learn?” They usually start out with some short answers like, “Good” or “Fun” or “I don’t remember.”
In both situations, I’ve learned that I need to include a little more specificity with the questions I ask, which gives everyone involved a better jumping off place for the conversation. For example, as a teacher, “Who can recap for us what we learned yesterday when we carried out our urinalysis investigation?” Or, as an auntie, “What did you make today in art class?”
STEM Fest is awesome because we have so many exhibitors with a wide range of experiences to share, and we are spread across multiple buildings on campus. Some of us attending know exactly how to jump in, and some of us need some extra support on how to engage as a visitor.
If you’re looking for resources to support your explorers as they travel throughout STEM Fest, check out the guides below. If you are bringing a group of students and would like them to document their journey with some specificity, check out our exploration guides. If you are a parent or other guardian looking for an option that is a little less involved, check out our bingo cards. We also have a list of suggested questions that could help anyone better engage with our exhibitors.
Please print out any materials you would like to use and bring them with you the day of STEM Fest. In an effort to cut down on paper waste, we will not have printed copies available upon your arrival. We look forward to seeing you on September 28th on our NIU campus!
Becky Swiontek, MS Ed. is a NIU STEAM Educator, specializing in inquiry education for students, as well as standards-aligned curriculum and assessment.
