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November 25, 2014

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STEM blows up at Concordia, students engage

RECENTLY, Concordia International School Shanghai celebrated science in a big way, designating an entire week to science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). The event kicked off with a Family Science Night, which invited families to get their STEM on. There were fun attractions and gadgets, including an inflatable observatory, designed to students of all ages interested in learning.

As an executive member of Concordia’s Science National Honor Society, I joined my fellow “scientists” at a booth where we demonstrated some pretty spectacular scientific phenomenon. Our most successful demonstrations were creating smoky bubbles using dry ice and making elephant toothpaste, which results from a chemical reaction that creates a rapid expansion of foam. Everyone seemed to enjoy our experiments and many came back for more bubbles and foam.

I was surprised at how genuinely inquisitive and involved the students were. Seeing them express an interest in science, I realized how important it is to retain that curiosity, which so often gets lost when growing up. If students can keep that interest in STEM, then I have no doubt the future will hold more innovations and discoveries than we can even imagine. Science Night was only the tip of the iceberg. For a whole week the school explored STEM in some way or other. Concordia even invited members from the community who work in STEM fields to talk with the students about their professions. Concordia high school science teacher, Tanea Hibler, the organizer of Science Week, invited NASA engineers, Tracy and Ted Drain, and teacher Paul Anderson, who is famous on YouTube for his many educational chemistry and biology videos, to engage and inspire students during Science Week.

(Vivian Lu is a Grade 11 student at Concordia.)




 

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