The USA Science and Engineering Festival's mission was to “re-invigorate the interest of our nation’s youth in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) by producing and presenting the most compelling, exciting, educational and entertaining science gatherings in the United States”.
This past weekend, I was on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. with a notebook and a very good pair of walking shoes. I spent the weekend exploring the inaugural expo of the USA Science and Engineering Festival. The festival’s mission was to “re-invigorate the interest of our nation’s youth in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) by producing and presenting the most compelling, exciting, educational and entertaining science gatherings in the United States”. It was a great weekend that re-invigorated my passion for science and presenting it to the public.
The Expo encompassed booths from groups around the United States, robotic stations sponsored by Lockheed Martin, mobile museums and medical vans and a variety of stage performances in celebration of science, technology, math and engineering. Booths were spread out over the National Mall in front of the capital as well as the Wilson and Freedom Plazas in downtown DC. There was so much variety of interests, issues and fields represented that I learned about a range of subjects from dark matter to biomes.
There were a few things that I took away from the experience. First off, low-tech is still a tried and true way to convey science. Kids were crowded around the booths that offered a hands-on approach. One station showed the make up of the universe with marbles and it worked great. Another booth conveyed physics by showing how much weight a boat could withstand and still float. Those booths with TV screens and a media approach just didn’t hold attention if the kids but those that had an experiment to work on were packed. The one exception was the robotic stations. Kids were driving robots in arenas playing soccer and were engrossed in the activity.