Virtual STEM Fair: April 22, 2021
Earth Day Awareness
Awaken. Restore. ReBuild.
Awaken your students in Grades 3-8 to Climate Change and how it is affecting living things on Earth. Learn how we can Restore and Rebuild to improve and preserve our environment. Register for this one day event and Inspire students to:
- Consider a future STEM career by participating in conversations with prominent professionals
- Experience hands-on STEM lessons and activities
- Find solutions to local or global problems in a STEM Challenge
HOW IT WORKS: Teachers register, then project the presentation or share the link with students. You will have access to all of the sessions for the entire day!
Register for the April 22, 2021 Virtual STEM Fair Day: Earth Day Awareness
Featured Speakers and Sessions
How can wind generate electric energy?
By exploring how electricity and magnetism are related, we'll use this knowledge to investigate how we can use renewable wind energy to generate electricity.
Speaker: Michael Comer
Michael Comer, currently the Director of Science Marketing at Savvas Learning, began his teaching career as a middle school science teacher in Dobbs Ferry, NY. His expertise is in providing rich and meaningful classroom experiences linking the facets of inquiry teaching with hands-on learning. He has presented internationally, training science teachers in STEM educational practices from the Middle East to the Far East, including a two-year Professional Development series for Master Science Teachers in Bangkok, Thailand for the Institute for the Promotion of Science and Technology. Michael has authored four books-Developing Visual Literacy in Science K-8, STEM Lesson Essentials, STEM Lesson Guideposts, and STEM Teaching and Learning in the K-2 Classroom.
Superheroes 101: How to Save the World
Dr. Fanara, also known as Inspector Planet will take you through her journey on a mission to make the world a better place for future generations. From cleaning water on earth to aquaponics in space, the journey to being a superhero isn't easy, but nothing world changing is.
Speaker: Dr. Tracy Fanara
Dr. Tracy Fanara is an environmental engineer, scientist, public speaker and television host with a BS, ME, and PhD from the University of Florida’s College of Environmental Engineering. In research, Tracy has developed water treatment technology, strategies for sustainable design, and citizen science programs with over 1.6million users to obtain publicly available environmental data. Tracy is now the Coastal Modeling Manager for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) where she manages US coastal ocean modeling efforts to gain a better understanding of our earth systems and threats to human lives and livelihoods in a changing world. You may have seen Tracy on Science Channel, Weather Channel, Fox or CBS; in Marvel's Unstoppable Wasp, or on the recent cover of Xylem YSI’s Mission Water.
Follow Tracy on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube @inspectorplanet.
Shoot for the Moon
Set audacious goals and work towards them! This is what we need to do right now to address biodiversity loss and the climate crisis. This strategy also led to some fun adventures and a rewarding career for Dr. MacIntyre. Share her journey to becoming a scientist, an astronaut candidate, and a science communicator encouraging people of all ages to take climate action.
Follow Dr. Olathe MacIntyre on Facebook-Olathe Jean MacIntyre, Twitter-@OlatheMacIntyre, Instagram-olathemacintyre, and LinkedIn-OlatheMacIntyre,
Speaker: Dr. Olathe MacIntyre
Dr. Olathe MacIntyre was among the final 72 astronaut candidates out of 3772 applicants with the Canadian Space Agency in 2017. Her B.Sc. in biology at Dalhousie University and research at a wastewater-treatment greenhouse led her to study biological life-support systems for space exploration. After working as an onboard marine biologist in Alaska for two years, she completed her M.Sc. in space science at the International Space University in France. She participated in a microgravity flight in France and two analogue Mars missions at the Mars Desert Research Station in Utah. An internship at the world-class Controlled Environment Systems Research Facility at the University of Guelph led to a Ph.D. in environmental sciences. Her thesis explored the implications of low-pressure conditions for plant-microbe interactions in a Lunar or Martian greenhouse. This was followed by a postdoctoral fellowship in water and wastewater treatment in First Nations communities. Dr. MacIntyre is currently a staff scientist with Canada’s second-largest science centre, Science North, where she helps inspire the next generation of scientists through space exploration and taking climate action.
Take Care of Our Earth-It’s Our Home!
Take your students on an adventure to see how they can truly impact the world around them! Students will meet Doug Riggs, an Environmental Engineer and learn about how he helps to take care of our Earth Everyday. Students learn how to research, plan and implement a plan to help the environment!
Speaker: Monica Wadler
A former teacher of 12 years, including middle school science, 3rd and 4th grades, high ability and title one, Monica Wadler, works with teachers as a science curriculum specialist for the Savvas Learning Company. Monica’s background in curriculum design and educational technology helps her to use best practice from these two fields to assist teachers in using curricular resources in ways that benefit students in both asynchronous and synchronous learning environments. At conferences and in districts, Monica conducts many different workshops, but due to the current state of the pandemic, is supporting teachers during this unprecedented time in education to create and provide exceptional distance learning experiences.
The “Wipe It” Coaster Challenge
Reduce! Reuse! Recycle! Roller coaster!!!! True, responsible citizens should follow the 3 R’s but let’s also have a little fun while thinking about the environment! Join us on this Earth Day STEM and Engineering Design Activity as students face the challenge of building a marble roller coaster from empty toilet paper and paper towel rolls based on specific criteria. Students will plan the design of the coaster during our session and then construct the coaster outside of our session. Teachers will receive a link for resources to conduct and adapt this experiment based on grade level.
Materials Needed for Hands-On Participation:
- Students: 5 empty toilet paper and 5 paper towel rolls, marble
- Teacher: stopwatch, tape, 3x3 (feet) pieces of cardboard for each student
Speakers: Kelli Palsrok and Chris Peterson
Kelli Palsrok
Kelli has worked as an Education Consultant for Savvas for the past five years in the areas of Math, Science and STEM. Prior to this she enjoyed teaching for over twenty five years in Southwest Michigan. Kelli enjoys working collaboratively with educators to promote meaningful learning opportunities for all students.
Chris Peterson
Chris has worked with Savvas going on 3 years as a Math and Science Curriculum Specialist and Educational Consultant. Previously, he was a middle school teacher for 26 years in a school just outside of Birmingham, AL. He enjoys creating challenging, engaging lessons and activities for students to learn and become independent, creative thinkers and helping teachers implement terrific ideas into their instruction!!
Get into Gear
Cyclists strive to achieve efficiency during continuous riding. Students must determine which pairing of gears is the best or most efficient. They will apply their understanding of ratios to explore gear ratios and how they can affect pedaling and riding speeds (Grades 6-8).
Speaker: Kurt Whited
Kurt is a national math specialist for Savvas Learning. He taught in Japan for two years to gain international experience. He also taught for 5 years as an elementary school teacher in Massachusetts. He was a math specialist for a district and helped run an after school remediation program. He has been an adjunct professor at Bridgewater State College. Most of all he is a lifelong learner.
Activity Downloads for Participants:
Climate Change: How Can You Tell It Happened? How Can You Tell It’s Happening?
In this presentation, students will learn about the different types of evidence that we use to measure Earth’s climate change. For past climate change, we have to act like a detective and use whatever kinds of clues Earth leaves for us. These kinds of evidence include ice cores, lake deposits, tree rings, and the fossil shells of long-dead organisms. These clues show us that our climate has changed greatly in the past. Not long ago, Chicago was under a mile of ice from a giant glacier! However, we now have a much easier time measuring climate change — with NASA! Not only does NASA send rovers to Mars and astronauts to the moon, but NASA also operates a wide array of satellites that monitor Earth’s temperature, glacier sizes, atmosphere content, forest fire and drought locations, and sea level. These new kids of evidence show that Earth’s climate is once again changing rapidly.
Speaker: Dr. Michael Wysession
Michael Wysession has been a Geophysics Professor at Washington University in St. Louis for 30 years, doing research and teaching about earthquakes. Michael is also an international leader in geoscience literacy and education, and was one of the lead authors of the U.S. Next Generation Science Standards.
Can’t Join? No Problem!
Register for the webinars you are interested in anyway. All the webinars will be recorded and made available for you to view OnDemand. See the past STEM Fair presentations linked below.
