Jack Abrams STEM Magnet School celebrated some of its best and brightest students during last week’s fourth grade Science Fair and sixth grade Invention Convention.
This year’s Science Fair initiative began last November when high school science research program participants visited their STEM school counterparts, mentoring the youngsters through their first independent experience.
The STEM students researched a science concept and conducted a controlled experiment.
“Our teachers and families supported this learning opportunity, which culminated in an exciting evening where Kids Choice Awards were presented in each class,” Principal Donna Moro said.
“The winners were voted on by classmates in categories that included Most Creative, Most Interesting Topic, Best Knowledge of Subject and Best Overall Visual Display.”
Science Fair participants put their projects on display and were available to discuss their work. The award recipients were given colorful ribbons. “It was no doubt a special evening for our students and their families,” Ms. Moro said.
The honorees included:
Most Creative: Heather Herman, Maximo Andrade, Jessica Bree, Justin Hernandez, Andrew McRoy
Most Interesting Topic: Jeremy Gross, Kenny Velarde-Gonzalez, Andrei Del Rosso, Nathaniel Sierra, Thomas Knapp
Best Overall Visual Display: Ruby Baliber, Marin Mullaly, Victoria Hart, Vaughan Steinert, Sean Eagan, Charlotte Cassatto
Best Knowledge of Subject: Avery Joshua-Tor, Dylan Wong, Mark Ingram, Alexander Tine, Dalton Flynn
STEM Invention Convention
The STEM Invention Convention was also once again popular with students. It is a challenge based on the old Rube Goldberg comics.
“Rube Goldberg was a Pulitzer Prize winning cartoonist best known for his zany cartoons,” Ms. Moro said. “The goal in the Invention Convention was to create a very complicated machine to perform a simple task. Our students learned about the six basic simple machines: a wheel and axle, pulley, lever, screw, wedge and incline plane. This project challenged students to design and build an invention using at least three simple machines.”
In tribute to Rube Goldberg, the inventions needed to perform a simple task in a very complicated manner. The Jack Abrams STEM Magnet School sixth graders pulled off their task in impressive faction.
“Once again, the evening was filled with excitement as students demonstrated their machines for the large crowd,” Ms. Moro said. “The event showcased not only our student’s creativity and hard-work, but exemplified our project based learning philosophy, challenging students to apply skills learned in all content areas.”
