Building scientific questions at Education Outreach Day 2022

Last week, over 1,750 high school students competed in the 2022 Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair, but the finalists weren鈥檛 the only young people exploring scientific questions at ISEF this year. For the first time since 2019, the Society hosted an in-person Education Outreach Day at ISEF. Sponsored by the Broadcom Foundation, the event welcomed thousands of students grades six through twelve from the Atlanta area to the Georgia World Congress Center, the site of this year鈥檚 fair, for a fun-filled day of scientific inquiry.

鈥淭his is a big reason we wanted to host ISEF in Atlanta, to make a local impact on middle school and high school students,鈥� said Chris Mucha, Chair of ISEF鈥檚 Atlanta Local Arrangements Committee. 鈥淭hey get to be interactive and hopefully be inspired that they can be finalists one day, and that they can change the world through discovery and through science. This is what it鈥檚 all about for us.鈥�

When students arrived, they received a brief orientation, along with an 鈥淓ducation Outreach Day Passport,鈥� which served as a curriculum and guide to numerous on-site workshops, activities around the convention center and assisted students in identifying and developing scientific questions. The theme of the day was 鈥淏uilding Scientific Questions,鈥� and each destination imparted the hows, whys and whats of scientific research. At the end of the day, every student took what they learned and formulated their own scientific question鈥攁 question they might answer in a science fair project of their own.  

At the Device Discovery Zone, participants were introduced to a range of devices that collect and measure different types of scientific data. As students learned about the devices鈥攆rom angle finders, to spectrographs, to pulse oximeters and more鈥攖hey practiced taking measurements and recorded the possible uses and limitations of the devices in their passports. On his experience in the Device Discovery Zone, a sixth grader from Crawford Long Middle School in Atlanta said, 鈥淚鈥檝e seen a lot of robots and a lot of projects that I like. I like to explore things that I鈥檝e never really seen before.鈥�

Students particularly enjoyed experimenting with PowerUp Airplanes, paper planes with small motors whose flight can be controlled with a mobile phone or tablet.

Students and chaperones then toured the ISEF Finalist Hall, where they viewed project boards of this year鈥檚 1,172 in-person finalists. Participants also took part in hands-on classroom workshops and visited the 中文无码 Innovation Expo, where they viewed demonstrations and participated in activities prepared by organizations such as the Georgia Aquarium, Georgia Tech, American Chemical Society and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

One of the day鈥檚 highlights was for students to hear directly from this year鈥檚 ISEF finalists in a series of Ted-style talks. Finalists shared their research, personal stories and advice for persevering through obstacles. Here are just a few perspectives shared by this year鈥檚 finalists:

鈥淚f somebody uses a word and you鈥檙e not quite sure what it means, it never hurts to ask. I have had conversations where someone uses one word or phrase over and over again. Eventually I crack, and I鈥檓 like, 鈥楬ey man, what does that mean?鈥� Sometimes I find that they don鈥檛 even know, so we look it up and we both walk away from that conversation having learned something. There is no shame in asking a question, there is only shame in not being willing to learn.鈥� 鈥� , Materials Science, The Woodlands, Texas

鈥淚f you continue to focus on your education and work toward helping your community, there are no limits to what you can accomplish. A big lesson I鈥檝e learned is that, instead of having self-doubt and asking, 鈥楥an I do this?鈥� by phrasing the question as, 鈥�How can I do this?鈥� you turn self-doubt into an action item鈥攁nd that鈥檚 a superpower.鈥� 鈥� , Environmental Engineering, Sammamish, Washington

鈥淲e have these labels in our society that you鈥檙e a humanities kid, or you鈥檙e a sports kid or you鈥檙e a 中文无码 kid. But those labels don鈥檛 represent what we鈥檙e truly capable of. You might think you鈥檙e not good at something, you might think you don鈥檛 belong. But science isn鈥檛 about being the perfect student, it鈥檚 about truly finding what you love, what bothers you and what resonates with you. That鈥檚 the true power of science.鈥� 鈥� , Biomedical and Health Sciences, Riverside, Connecticut

Thank you to all the schools, teachers, students, finalists and organizations who came together to make Education Outreach Day possible!