STEM Discovery Fair inspires K-12 students to explore science and technology careers

What could constructing basic flying machines, mixing beauty products, and building your own video game controller possibly have to do with one another? They’re all different lab experiments involving science and technology and were just some of the many different opportunities available to K-12 future innovators who attended the Virginia Tech STEM Discovery Fair, held Feb. 21 in Alexandria.

Roughly 200 early learners and their parents took part in breakout sessions that explored elementary coding, physics, and DNA in disease diagnostics as well as college planning, career exploration, and a number of exhibits. The sessions were all run by Virginia Tech programs, including the College Access Collaborative, the Center for Engineering Excellence and Discovery, and the College of Science. Nearly 25 undergraduate, graduate students, and employees came up from Blacksburg for the event.

Every breakout session was taught by undergraduate or graduate students who are pursuing their degree in that field.

“Research shows that students or professionals who are actually studying or living in these disciplines are the first people who engage and inspire students and help them see and envision themselves in their role,” said Pamela Gilchrist, director of K-12 Programs at Virginia Tech. “Our goal is to ensure that students understand what life is like as a student at Virginia Tech, what it’s like for a student pursuing a STEM discipline, or a non-STEM discipline. But then also the things that they can do to have a meaningful impact beyond their schooling.”

The STEM Discovery Fair has been held annually since 2023 with the biggest change this year coming from the involvement of the School of Education.

“The new component we brought in was the School of Education because I want students to see students who are pursuing STEM degrees and becoming teachers to see the meaningful things they can do,” said Gilchrist.

One of the students running a breakout session was Azka Kiran, a Ph.D. student in science education, whose workshop was called Bee-Bots in the Wild: A Coding Safari. While it taught second graders some basic coding functions, it also served a broader educational purpose.

“It was also a science lesson, learning about organisms and habitat,” said Kiran. “They were learning about the bees and their survival skills. So the Bee-Bot was in the background. The main topic was different. But still it was helpful for them, because they were programming and coding without realizing that it was helping them.”

Shikhar Kashyap, also a Ph.D. student in science education, ran the workshop called Power Up, in which students made their own controllers to play video games.

“While playing the video games, they were able to figure out how electricity works, how circuits work, and they were able to design their own controllers as well,” said Kashyap. “So they get to think about the materials they use and how they can apply their learning into something they enjoy.”

He said one of the students realized the same circuit connections applied to how keys on a computer keyboard function. Seeing kids make those connections — both electrical and educational — with their parents, was a highlight for Kashyap.

“When the parents were also playing video games with the kids is when they have those lightbulb moments,” he said.

Haeeun Choi found out about the event from a STEM teacher at her daughter’s school. As one of the youngest attendees, her daughter participated in the Engineering Flying Machines breakout session, in which students built an elementary spinning device out of folded paper.

While Choi wasn’t sure exactly why the focus was on something so seemingly low-tech, she saw how her daughter noted that its movement was just like a bird’s wings. 

“It was just a simple little thing that gives her an opportunity to think more,” she said. Even the little things, there’s always something to learn. I love that.”

Choi wanted her daughter to attend to give her a chance to see and participate in something she might not encounter in her day-to-day schooling.

“She’s exposed to something new she doesn’t have in her daily life,” she said. “I hope it might linger in her head somewhere, then when she goes to learn more, she will be more confident.”

That, to Gilchrist, is the whole purpose behind these kinds of events.

“These experiences begin investing in students’ ideals about what they want to do and be, so there is a career-readiness workforce component there,” said Gilchrist. “So while elementary students are exploring how to create a small, flying object, they’re learning about engineering. They’re learning about careers. Our goal is to plant ideas in their mind about what they can be and how they can contribute to our world, in thoughtful ways.”