Informal Science and Engineering
Informal engineering and science education is becoming a widely used method to engage individuals in STEM in a more personal way, generally without a highly descript method of delivery.
This aspect of TORCH differs from STEM Community Training as the method of delivery is not in a formalized setting and engages the learner with an activity that may not directly be considered by the learner as science. Examples of TORCH informal engineering and science education activities include: kitchen chemistry, engineering open house activities, engineering arts and crafts and engineering demonstrations.
Common audiences will be high school and middle school students, but even elementary or younger students can participate in these activities.
Forms of Outreach
- Field Trips: Invite a class full of students to campus for the day. An easy way to facilitate this is to work with the school of education on your campus.
- Reverse Science Fair: This type of event will happen at mostly at conferences. Host a series of quick, hands on activities for kids to come try. See the Implementation Guide Here
- Visits: Visit a school or community after school program and bring an activity with you.
Types of Content
- Demonstrations: A quick easy way to engage students and spark interest. This type of activity can be easier logistically to handle, and require fewer volunteers. Find an interesting lab experiment you’ve done and show it off, present a senior design project or partner with faculty doing interesting and applicable research.
- Activities: The best way to engage students in science and engineering in a relatively informal manner. One suggested way to implement an activity is as a competition. If the activity results in building or designing something the student can take home no competition is necessary.
ZOOM is a great resource for many activities.
ISE Activity Design Challenge
The National TORCH Committee will be hosting an Informal Science & Engineering Fair for the third year at Annual Convention in Pittsburgh, PA in March 2012. The theme of this fair is “Engineer Your Way Around the World With NSBE.” An Informal Science and Engineering Fair is a “reverse” science fair; instead of the traditional science fair where students present their discoveries, we as the experts in the field, will present our knowledge and demonstrations to youth to encourage them to consider entering a STEM field. This event will present a mixture of booths with demonstrations and interactive activities for students to walk through in groups. The theme will show how various regions of the world use engineering concepts, and the purpose is to show how these concepts are applied.
As a grassroots organization, we look to our chapters as a source of creativity and energy. We are looking to chapters to generate creative activities to engage youth during this open to the public event. Selected chapters will be funded to implement the activity at a chapter event in addition to hosting that activity at the Informal Science & Engineering Fair in Pittsburgh. Help us lead Pittsburgh’s youth in engineering their way around the world!
Full details and timing here.
Use the General TORCH Fund request to submit your idea.
Digital Activity Library
The National TORCH team has created the following as a place to collect various resources for ISE activities. This will include some member submitted and some links to sites that already maintain a list: https://sites.google.com/site/iseansbetorchevent/