Fairfield Christian Academy offers unique STEM programs to students
LANCASTER − Fairfield Christian Academy is introducing students to the scientific method and other valuable tools with a STEM career week and a science fair mentoring program.
Science teacher at Fairfield Christian Academy Kelsey Brake said that these programs are important because it engages younger students while exposing older students to career paths they might not have otherwise considered.
"One, it helps get them more engaged in school," said Brake. "Getting their brains working, thinking through things, because now we can look up everything. So, for them to sit there and actually process, 'okay, this is a great idea, but how are you gonna be able to do that?' Getting that critical thinking component as much as possible. That's more for the elementary and middle school."
"Then for the high school, we have sophomores, juniors and seniors who are getting exposed to the speakers and being able to see what they want to do next," said Brake.
The STEM career week provided a chance for these high schoolers to discover job fields that they may be interested in. With 12 guest speakers, the school's career week featured a diverse selection of people working STEM-related careers. Included in the lineup were a veterinarian, a pharmacist, a dental student, an engineer, and more.
For the younger students between second and eighth grade, the science fair mentoring program is a very hands-on experience. With involvement from parents, teachers, and high school student mentors, children are being taught the scientific method over the course of multiple weeks.
Meetings so far have shown students how to come up with a hypothesis, the steps of how to prepare, what a science fair board looks like, and looking at their data to determine if they have enough. Finally, they will have a mock judging so that they can reflect before the science fair.
One student participating in the science fair mentoring program is fourth-grader Avery Pell, 10, who is working to find out how the amount of salt can affect the taste of cookies. She said that she joined the program because she likes science.
"Because I like doing experiments," said Pell.
Another student participating in the science fair but not the after school mentoring program is sixth-grader Asher Liff, 11, who is working to find what the most natural preservative is.
"I've been able to learn how to cite things, how to write things, and pretty much just do everything on a science paper," said Liff.
Liff said that he is a fan of science because he likes to find the answers to big questions.
"Well, I guess it's just kind of fun to find things out," said Liff. "Like, are there aliens? Who knows?"
Julie Lazarus, a pediatrician, volunteers at the science fair mentorship program. She said that she chose to volunteer because of the importance of science literacy.
"I realized how low science literacy is, just in the general population," said Lazarus. "When you go down the science route, you have a lot of background in science, but if you don't, then you hardly know how to read any research that comes out. You don't know who to trust or what to say. So, I really wanted to figure out, 'how can we get even people who are not interested in science to have better science literacy?'"
"Because science effects all of us in our daily lives, especially when something like COVID hits," said Lazarus.
According to Fairfield Christian Academy teacher Kelli Frye, the biggest takeaway that children are gaining from this program is a love for science, which is displayed by many participating voluntarily.
"They're gaining a love of science," said Frye. "We want to really promote that. They get to do these hands-on projects and a lot of the kiddos that like to do more advanced things, they don't have to do this, they're choosing to do this."
The way in which students have impressed Frye the most throughout this afterschool program is with the questions they choose for their projects.
"The questions they come up with," said Frye. "We have one girl who's looking to see if she can identify her cat's paw print against other cats, that's more of a forensic science and it's a great question to ask. Last year, we had one girl who wanted to know if turtles preferred a different color."
"So, their questions are absolutely amazing," said Frye. "I mean, you wouldn't think second grade, third grade, fourth grade, fifth grade, would come up with such in-depth questions like this and they are."
The students will present their findings at a science fair.
This article originally appeared on Lancaster Eagle-Gazette: Fairfield Christian Academy offers unique STEM programs to students
