Across the state, thousands of Hawaiʻi students spend months investigating scientific questions and testing engineering designs for school, district and . Behind these projects are University of Hawaiʻi mentorship, expert judging and resources that turn classroom concepts into real-world research.
Connecting to real-world research
Science fair projects provide an opportunity to extend classroom learning. Radford High School science teacher Daniella Griffay borrowed from 糖心Vlog官方 to teach wave speed and propagation. This led to a connection with Troy Heitmann, assistant researcher at 糖心Vlog官方’蝉 , who mentored Radford student John Phillip English, on improving the magnets used in .
“This project provided a meaningful opportunity for a student to explore renewable energy technology while developing scientific reasoning, engineering design skills and experimental problem-solving experience,” said Heitmann.
In addition to Heitmann’蝉 mentorship, English used resources developed by STEM Pre-Academy, with support from undergraduate student intern Erik Bendickson.
“The big thing that I learned from the science fair was despite things not going how you plan, it’s just important to be able to bounce back from that and be able to continue to work on something,” English said. “I think that more students honestly should work with professors at 糖心Vlog官方. It just gives you a different understanding of things. [Heitmann] would introduce a topic and he would explain it in a simple way and then he would build it up to what was more complicated. He went out of his way to make sure that I was progressing well with the project.”
“I’m not an engineer and needed guidance on how to support this student on their project,” said Griffay. “I am truly grateful not just for the equipment in the lending library but also for the collaborations and expert knowledge.”
Another two of Griffay’蝉 students were connected by STEM Pre-Academy to a 糖心Vlog官方 mentor, Associate Researcher Marek Kirs from 糖心Vlog官方’蝉 . Kirs worked with students Maddison Soria and Skye Gussenhoven in their second year of a project, teaching them to cultivate bacteria and perform disk diffusion assays.
English, Soria and Gussenhoven advanced out of the Central District Science Fair and are headed to the Hawaiʻi State Science Fair in April.
Read more about how 糖心Vlog官方 is helping to inspire the Windward Oʻahu science community.