Sonoma County Office of Education

SCOE hosts second STEAM Showcase

03/12/2018 -

Student holds STEAM Showcase stickerSCOE hosted its second annual STEAM Showcase on March 2, where over 400 students from across the county presented 137 projects related to science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics. This event takes the place of a traditional science fair and engages students in hands-on activities that promote creativity and critical thinking. Participation was about 25 percent higher than 2017, the first year of the event.

From a study of the evolution of phone communication methods to a digital media presentation on earthquake preparedness, there was no shortage of innovative projects from these amazing students. A few project highlights included:

  • Hillcrest Middle School: A student studied how a magneto phone system is different from a modern one. The goal was to be able to program the phones effectively to be displayed in museums so people can learn about past communication styles. He was inspired by his grandfather who was a circuit board operator. He built a digital operating system for an old phone and switch board and programmed it so that you could call it from a cell phone. "The result was amazing, and he knew everything about each component and circuit," said SCOE Science Coordinator Anna Van Dordrecht.
  • RL Stevens Elementary School: A group of 16 students from three sixth grade classes gave a digital media presentation about earthquakes and earthquake preparedness. They shared about all of the types of plate boundaries and showed stop motion movies with clay to illustrate each boundary. Then they discussed different earthquake preparedness tips. For each of these, they had prepared a short, fun movie to illustrate the point. "One neat thing about this group is that they couldn't get a school bus, so the teacher took all of them on the city bus to get to the event. Quite a commitment to the event!" said Ms. Van Dordrecht.
  • Rincon Valley Middle School: A student developed shoe inserts that generate energy
  • Tech High School A group developed an app to catalog all of the items in your house in case you need it for insurance claims
  • Twin Hills: A special education class developed a 3D working solar system model with gears of different proportions to illustrate the directions and speeds of the different planetary rotations.

    • Students smile over science project - a model of a forestCongratulations to everyone who participated in this year's excellent event!