The History of Science Fairs
Posted on January 23rd, 2011 by Jaimie Schock
Science Fair history began when journalist E.W. Scripps created Science Services as a nonprofit organization in 1921. Through Science Service’s efforts, junior academies of science, museums, and local science clubs throughout the United States were enrolled in Science Clubs of America. As a result over 600,000 young scientists were organized into 25,000 science clubs.
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Tags: History, Science and Engineering Fair, Science Fair, Science Fair Projects
The Sustainability Workshop video series from Autodesk, an eGFI sponsor, uses animated drawings and real-world examples in short films that explain essential concepts for budding engineers. Some topics include engineering systems, green design, turning an idea into a finished product, and even why modern bicycles look so different from those built 200 years ago.
PBS has introduced an online course to strengthen elementary teachers’ STEM strategies. Called Inspire Elementary Students with Engineering, it was developed at Purdue University to provide an early foundation in engineering. 
NASA’s Web site “Native American Connections” focuses on images and activities that have been used by Native Americans for generations to explore Sun-Earth science. The site includes biographies of Native American members of the NASA community who represent a variety of expertise and cultural backgrounds.
NASA’s Website Ancient Observatories, Timeless Knowledge contains a rich bank of material to help students, educators, and others explore the astronomical activities of pre-modern cultures. With separate sections for students and educators, the site contains lesson plans, web resources and links, interactive games, a timeline, and a photo gallery, as well as a showcase of Native Americans involved with NASA.
The PhET project, which creates online STEM-based simulations for free use, has received new grants totaling in $2.5 million from the National Science Foundation and the Dallas-based O’Donnell Foundation. These grants will allow the University of Colorado at Boulder project to expand to a key area of need: middle school science.
Teachers of grades 6 through 8 from Northrup Grumman communities have a chance to join an expedition either to the Bahamas, to examine coastal ecology, or to the edge of the Arctic, to study climate change.
SolidWorks, which develops 3D design software, has put together a series of videos and interactive graphics intended to interest students in engineering and design. Students are encouraged to think of new ways to design products — a bunk bed, for instance. The site also includes first-person accounts of what drew young men and women to engineering.
The SnowCrystals Website is maintained by Kenneth Libbrecht, chairman of the Physics Department at Caltech, who describes it as being “all about snow crystals and snowflakes — what they are, where they come from, and just how these remarkably complex and beautiful structures are created, quite literally, out of thin air.
