Episode 606: Inspiring Student Innovation: The Modern Day Science Fair

Put STEM theory into practice with the modern day science fair! Join us in conversation with Shelley Kozowski, Science Fair Coordinator at Whitewater High School and Laura Brewer, the program director of the Georgia Science and Engineering Fair.

TRANSCRIPT

Ashley Mengwasser: Hello, educator listeners, you're streaming Classroom Conversations, the platform for Georgia's teachers, from the Georgia Department of Education and Georgia Public Broadcasting. I'm Ashley Mengwasser. You know, this season has been genuinely interesting, intriguing, captivating, and to continue on that trajectory, we're taking up the subject of science today. The late Carl Sagan astronomer, NASA advisor, and exobiologist once said, "Science is a way of thinking much more than it is a body of knowledge." In this episode, you'll either find for the first time, or perhaps rediscover, an application of the scientific way of thinking, known as science fair. The first American science fairs often called children's fairs were held a century ago in the 1920s. Yeah, that was a century ago, I checked the math. It was held at places like the American Museum of Natural History. The fair part of the name likely referenced the event style since various projects were displayed and compared, similar to the traditional fair with booths showcasing different goods, we've all been, and the science part was added to indicate that the focus of the event was on showcasing scientific experiments and research conducted by students. Now, in 2025, there are school fairs, state fairs, national and international fairs, all levels promising a firsthand encounter with science via independent study of a topic of interest using either the scientific method or the engineering design process. Today we'll probe into the modern-day science fair, what it is and isn't, and what offerings this way of thinking bestows on its student STEM investigators. My guests administer science fairs like nobody's business. Laura Brewer joins us from the University of Georgia's Office of Academic Special Programs where Laura serves as Program Director of the Georgia Science and Engineering Fair, otherwise known as GSEF. GSEF brings Georgia students together annually to share STEM research and compete for awards. And Shelley Kozlowski is a gifted teacher and STEM advisor for Whitewater High School in the Fayette County School District. Shelley is Whitewater High's Science Fair Coordinator, that's why we dragged her in here. So let's talk school fairs to state fairs. Hi, Laura and Shelley, how are you today?

Shelley Kozlowski: Doing great. How are you?

Ashley Mengwasser: Good. How are you, Laura?

Laura Brewer: Hey, great. Happy to be here.

Ashley Mengwasser: Great. Thank you for driving in from Athens and Fayetteville, respectively.

Shelley Kozlowski: Yes.

Ashley Mengwasser: Could you talk to us about your current role in support of science fairs? Let's start with you, Laura and GSEF, the Georgia Science and Engineering Fair.

Laura Brewer: All right. Sure. So I am a program manager for the Office of Academic Special Programs, and one of my biggest responsibilities is being the Director of the Statewide Science and Engineering Fair. It's a rewarding, great experience. We're hosted by the University of Georgia, so that's where I work. And we're under the Vice President's office for Public Service and Outreach, which makes a lot of sense because this is very much a public service program. It's for the students to be better set up for success later in life, but it's also a public service for all of us because these students are solving the issues that we are all facing today in energy and the environment and healthcare. So it's a great benefit to all of us for students to be learning these skills.

Ashley Mengwasser: Excellent point. And how many would you say compete in the state science fair?

Laura Brewer: We have somewhere between 600 to 800 students every year, just depending on what our capacity is. And students advance from one of the regional fairs across the state, and there are about 18 regional fairs that serve all of the state of Georgia.

Ashley Mengwasser: And before they compete in regionals, they compete in their school science fair, which is what you oversee. Shelley, talk to us about Whitewater High's Science Fair.

Shelley Kozlowski: Yes, I do. So I feel like my role is kind of like twofold, one, as the teacher, because I am in the classroom with a lot of these students that do well in science fairs, so it's my job to sort of encourage them and maybe give them some ideas, hopefully they come up with ideas on their own, but on the other hand, as science fair coordinator, it's my job to make sure that the projects that move on to the county level and then the regional level, and then when they get to Laura at the state level, that all the things are in place. And when I say things, I mean that their poster's ready, that they have all their paperwork ready, and all the paperwork has all the correct things on it and all the correct dates on it. It's a lot of tedious work that you wouldn't think a classroom teacher does, but the science fair coordinator is responsible for that.

Ashley Mengwasser: Well, all that has to be correct for them to advance so it sounds very important no matter how tedious. Talk about your educational and professional path before you found science fairs. I would love our audience to hear what you were doing, Shelley.

Shelley Kozlowski: So, I wasn't always a teacher. I graduated from the University of Georgia a long, long time ago in the year 2000. And I got my biology degree and I was going to take on the world and do research, and I ended up at Emory and started doing drug therapies for cocaine addiction and loved it. But then after about six years, I lost kind of like a passion and I felt that I needed to be directed somewhere else, which led me to teaching. So teaching is my second career, and so I feel like I had that base of what it's like in the scientific research world at Emory, and I still loved those years, there's no regrets that I have about those years, but I feel like I'm in the right place and my path led me to where I need to be.

Ashley Mengwasser: Yeah, you're definitely in the right place today. So thanks for being on this podcast episode.

Shelley Kozlowski: Thank you.

Ashley Mengwasser: Do you miss your former scientific researcher self at all?

Shelley Kozlowski: I was so young back then. I feel like I was young and naive, but I learned a lot. Do I miss that part? No, I don't think I miss that part. This sounds crazy. I know a lot of people won't understand this, but I love working with teenagers.

Ashley Mengwasser: Oh, wow. I'm going to hear what Laura has to say about that. Laura, your professional path, how did you get into science fairs and what was your original education track?

Laura Brewer: Sure. So actually, I am not a STEM person originally, I am a music kid. I did my undergraduate in music and then I did my graduate degree in linguistics. Did not use either of those when I entered the working world. But I started working at the University of Georgia also a long, long time ago, and I was working on a grant project where I was doing kind of special projects. If there was a process that needed to be improved or some instructions that we needed to kind of finalize or work on, I will work on those. And I was very interested in efficiencies and just making things work better. And it got to the point where our department was humming along and everything was working well, and I didn't really have much to do. So I asked what other projects needed help and found out about the Georgia Science and Engineering Fair. And so, I started out as kind of an assistant and helping improve those processes, going through all that paperwork that Shelley works very hard on to make sure all the dates are correct, figuring out ways for us to streamline the process at the state level of going through all of that and communicating with the students and the teachers. But then when I saw my very first GSEF, I was hooked. It took me right back to when I was in middle and high school and I was going to all these music events. I went to district and Allstate Band and orchestra and national music camps. Really anything that I had an opportunity to do, I would do because I wanted to get into these new experiences out of my comfort zone and get to know students who were interested in the same things that I was and good at the same things that I was. And they were really formative experiences and really helped me take ownership of that part of my identity. And I definitely see that happening at Science Fair when students come in and it's a really big deal and they're really excited, and I know that this is going to be a core memory for them and it's going to impact their future. And I'm really glad to be a part of that.

Ashley Mengwasser: There is a palpable energy at GSEF, I know because I've been fortunate to attend. I would say, as the kids say today, it's got rizz. It's a very charismatic and charming experience, and everyone should have an opportunity to go. To borrow Newton's Law, an object remains at rest if it's at rest and in motion if it's in motion. You told me who you are in motion in your professional sense, but who are you at rest? Who are you as individual people? Let's start with you, Shelley. How about a fun fact?

Shelley Kozlowski: Fun fact is that I am an identical twin.

Ashley Mengwasser: Wow.

Shelley Kozlowski: I have an identical twin. My name's Shelley, her name is Sherry.

Ashley Mengwasser: Oh, that's not confusing at all.

Shelley Kozlowski: And I also have fraternal twin boys.

Ashley Mengwasser: Wow.

Shelley Kozlowski: Yes.

Ashley Mengwasser: So that gene does really carry on.

Shelley Kozlowski: Actually, the fraternal gene is the familial gene that can get passed on, identicals are just a freak of nature.

Ashley Mengwasser: Are they really?

Shelley Kozlowski: Yes.

Ashley Mengwasser: Well, you're our favorite freak of nature. Really glad you're here. Laura, what's a fun fact from you?

Laura Brewer: All right. Well, Shelley's fact is science-oriented, so I'm going to go with somewhat science-oriented too. I have a strange but benign condition, it's called Raynaud's Disease. You may have heard of it. I don't know if you've seen it though. It's-

Ashley Mengwasser: Not in someone, I have heard of it.

Laura Brewer: Okay. And I might be saying it wrong, but I hear most people say Raynaud's, so I'm going with Raynaud's, but it is a condition where my fingers and my toes get very cold and they will turn white, not pale, white, white as a sheet of paper.

Ashley Mengwasser: Interesting.

Laura Brewer: When people see it, they're like, "You need to go to the hospital, that's not normal." And I say, "Nope, I'm just cold. Cold fingers."

Ashley Mengwasser: I have a benign condition. Well, thank goodness for benign. Is it your whole hand or really just your fingers?

Laura Brewer: It's usually just the tips of my fingers and sometimes my toes. It can be dangerous for some people who have it, it can get worse. Mine is pretty benign, so it just looks funny.

Ashley Mengwasser: When did you discover this?

Laura Brewer: I have always had cold fingers. I did not have the actual white fingertips until a few years ago. I went to a storytelling event in town. I was not telling a story, just listening, and my friend saw my fingers and she said, "Oh no, you need to leave." And at the time, I didn't know if it was okay, but they weren't painful, so I just waited for it to go away. And ever since when my fingers get really cold, they just turn white at the tips.

Ashley Mengwasser: You're both fascinating. I'm so glad I invited you here today.

Shelley Kozlowski: That is fascinating. I see a science fair project on-

Ashley Mengwasser: On that? Yeah.

Laura Brewer: Oh, absolutely. Well, if you Google it, you'll find that they don't really know what causes it. They know it's just something about the capillaries are very thin and it's hard for the blood to get all the way through, but they're not totally sure what else is causing it.

Shelley Kozlowski: Fascinating. When we have stuff like that, when we talk about stuff like that in my classroom, there's a running joke that I'll just say, science fair, that's a science fair project.

Ashley Mengwasser: Yep. Feeling inquisitive, let's explore it. What makes a great science fair project, would you say, Shelley? How about at the school level?

Shelley Kozlowski: To me a great science fair project is first off, started with a passion that the kid has. It has to start with something that they're interested in otherwise it's painful. And for a lot of kids, it is a painful process. I mean, not going to lie, it's painful for some, but for those that get into it and they have a passion about something, it's beautiful to see the process go from start to finish. And when they do finish at GSEF or even ISEF, it's so rewarding.

Ashley Mengwasser: And ISEF is? Laura tell us.

Laura Brewer: ISEF is the International Science and Engineering Fair, and the US does not have a National Fair, students go straight from state to international.

Ashley Mengwasser: Wow.

Laura Brewer: There are country level fairs in other parts of the world, but here we go straight to international.

Ashley Mengwasser: How American of us, right to the top. What makes a great project in your experience, Laura?

Laura Brewer: Yeah, I mean, I agree with Shelley, it's when they have a passion for the project. If they have a kind of a personal connection to the research, they are genuinely curious about this topic, it always makes for a better project. If they have great ownership of it, they are doing the work themselves, that comes through during the interviews and when they talk about their work.

Ashley Mengwasser: When we say the word science fair, many people may be casting a mental image that is either incorrect or outmoded, let's say. So tell me what science fair isn't.

Laura Brewer: Well, it is not a baking soda and vinegar volcano. In fact, that is-

Ashley Mengwasser: We've all seen it.

Laura Brewer: Yes. That is outlawed at GSEF.

Ashley Mengwasser: Is it really?

Laura Brewer: They cannot have liquids.

Ashley Mengwasser: Okay.

Laura Brewer: Yeah. I think that some people think of science fair as that experiment where you're taking stuff from your kitchen cupboard and mixing it together and seeing what happens. And you know, that's an important part of scientific inquiry, but the science fairs that we have here across the state and at the state level, and especially the international fair, is that students are doing advanced level research that's based on some sort of research problem, or they're trying to solve a research question where they're doing something that's unique that hopefully hasn't really been done before, looking at something in kind of a different way and then they are talking about it professionally, describing what they've done, communicating what they've done through their project board and then through their interviews. But not necessarily the stuff, not necessarily the demonstrations or the displays that you think of.

Ashley Mengwasser: Right. When we say the word science fair. Shelley, you've said it's important for people to know that it's not proving the laws of science.

Shelley Kozlowski: Yes.

Ashley Mengwasser: What do you mean by

Shelley Kozlowski: A lot of people think of science fair as I'm going to grow some plants and put them in some soil, and then I'm going to put some light on them and that's going to be my science fair project. We know that plants need light.

Ashley Mengwasser: I see.

Shelley Kozlowski: That is not what the science fair is. You would need to dig deeper, maybe different types of light, maybe there's a different type of variable that you can change about the plants. It's not just taking a law and then proving that law. It's not showing that gravity works. It's digging deeper. It's finding a real problem and trying to solve that problem through science or engineering.

Ashley Mengwasser: Excellent. And now that I understand science fairs, let's look at it atomic level here. Let's figure out the how's and why's. I guess my first question, is a research question all that's required for participation, or do they need something more? What key parameters do you have for your students?

Shelley Kozlowski: At the school level a research question is a starting point. So we usually go at the school level in several increments, starting with background research and observations. So usually my students will have a summer work assignment, yes, they will observe during the summer, and then they come to school within the first week and they talk to us about three observations that they have and three possible things that they want to do further research on. So that's step one. Step two is doing background research on these observations. And this is the first time that a lot of these kids have explored using things like Galileo, GaleNet, JSTOR, which are research tools to dig deeper and look at peer reviewed articles, actual legitimate research. And then they get into the research plan. And the research plan, Laura probably knows the research plan, it's part of the paperwork, it has their hypothesis or their engineering goal, it has their variables and then it has a very detailed procedure of how they set this up. And this is where all the critical thinking comes into play because they have to set it all up. It's not done by me, it's not done by Mom or Dad, it's not supposed to be done by Mom or Dad.

Ashley Mengwasser: We're going to get into that, yeah.

Shelley Kozlowski: But then they turn in that research plan and then it's time to get to work. They do the experimentation.

Ashley Mengwasser: Okay. Anything to add about what's required to start?

Laura Brewer: Well, by the time they get to the state level, it's all done.

Ashley Mengwasser: Yeah.

Laura Brewer: Yeah.

Ashley Mengwasser: We're rolling.

Laura Brewer: Everything that Shelley said, and then they need to put together their actual exhibit board and know the project well enough to be able to talk to the judges about it.

Ashley Mengwasser: So, what about, she's representing the high school group, do you have middle schoolers who participate in GSEF?

Laura Brewer: Mm-hmm.

Ashley Mengwasser: What grades?

Laura Brewer: So, we do sixth through eighth for the middle school division. And then we also have a high school.

Ashley Mengwasser: So, no elementary schoolers are dragging their poster board into this. We're not there yet.

Shelley Kozlowski: No.

Laura Brewer: No. There is a statewide elementary school fair.

Ashley Mengwasser: Interesting.

Shelley Kozlowski: I did not know that.

Laura Brewer: Yeah, it's hosted by Georgia College.

Ashley Mengwasser: Cool. I'm going to read about that one. Why is participating in science fair valuable for a student? What transformations have you seen?

Shelley Kozlowski: On a very basic level, so a typical student, to me the value in science fair comes from, they get knowledge about graphs. They get knowledge about coming up with an idea, testing that idea, and coming up with a conclusion. To me, that's valuable. But on a very large level, the kids that make it to GSEF and the kids that make it to ISEF, they gain so much confidence in themselves on a transformational level. I've had a pair of girls change their career outlook based off of how well they did at science fair. One of my students, she was doing an environmental engineering project and she was on a path to marketing, and she just changed into environmental engineering just based off of how well she did and how passionate she became about environmental engineering just through going through science fair.

Ashley Mengwasser: Look at that. So while they're discovering whatever their research question is, they're discovering about themselves too.

Shelley Kozlowski: Yes.

Ashley Mengwasser: One thing that comes to mind, by the way, Laura was nodding the entire time you said all that, I'm thinking of the public facing side of this, the communication side. What are you witnessing with the GSEF students?

Laura Brewer: By the time they get to GSEF, their projects are pretty high level, and they are talking to judges who represent some of the top STEM minds in the state. The students can be very nervous about that, but that's part of the experience is they need to communicate what they've done to experts in their field. And sometimes the judges are STEM experts, but maybe not in that student's particular field so they also need to be able to talk about it in a way where they're not using very specific jargon and they can explain it in kind of a more simple way as well. So it's really important communication skills that the students are learning. And then, like Shelley said, just the process of going through those interviews and having their work validated and encouraged by those STEM professionals is incredibly important for them.

Ashley Mengwasser: It's validating their critical thinking abilities, which they're learning as part of this. Well, let's jump right into the judging piece of this since we've mentioned it. Laura, who do you include when you're assembling your judging panel?

Laura Brewer: Because the projects are so high level, we do require a minimum of a bachelor's degree in STEM for our judges. So we're looking for anyone and everyone who meets that requirement.

Ashley Mengwasser: Shout out!

Laura Brewer: And we do have some exceptions to that on a case-by-case basis. For example, we did have the Junior Pinnacle winner from a while ago, but she's currently doing research at Emory University and she signed up to judge. So I'm excited about that.

Ashley Mengwasser: I love to see them come back around.

Laura Brewer: Yeah. But we try to get a good coverage across all categories. We generally always have a lot of life science judges and medical health judges, which is great. We're always looking for more in environmental science, engineering, math and computing, just to kind of balance the coverage across all the categories. And then also, we want judges with a variety of backgrounds and experiences in STEM, so we, of course, at University of Georgia, we go all out and STEM departments will shut down so that faculty and graduate students can come judge on the day of the fair.

Ashley Mengwasser: Cool.

Laura Brewer: But we also get great support from other institutions across the state like Emory and Georgia Tech and Georgia College and Mercer and University of North Georgia, I know I'm going to leave some out, but there's just great support all across the state. And then we also from STEM businesses and industries, pharmaceutical companies, our sponsor, Burns & McDonnell, send some judges for the engineering category. And then we also have some representation from government agencies like the EPA and good representation from USDA and also the CDC.

Ashley Mengwasser: So, many academic and professional science minds, the top, the creme de la creme. Who are you using to judge your high school science fair?

Shelley Kozlowski: Can't say that I'm using that kind of credential. At the school level as science fair coordinator, I just use the science teachers at my school.

Ashley Mengwasser: As it should be, I think.

Shelley Kozlowski: Yeah, at that level, once we go through the school fair and the schoolteachers have gone through all the projects, we usually narrow it down to about 20 to 30 projects and then from those, we pick the ones that go on to county. Once it goes past the school, then there's a county science fair coordinator that then assembles a judging panel and those judges are usually found in the community. They use researchers from UGA Griffin, and I think they've gotten some from the Georgia Tech Research Institute, but my job, it's the science fair at the school, and that's the science teachers. Shout out to all the science teachers at Whitewater High.

Ashley Mengwasser: Shout out to all the science teachers everywhere I'd add. How do you ensure that students are driving the investigations, Shelley?

Shelley Kozlowski: It's really hard to do that with the science fair, the experimentation. It's done at home.

Ashley Mengwasser: Yeah.

Shelley Kozlowski: That can't be monitored. It just can't. You just kind of have to rely on these students to make sure that they're doing it themselves. We'll send out communications to parents and send them reminders about due dates and things like that, but it's really just on the kids to make sure that they're doing it themselves. One of the things that they do have to turn in that we try to ensure that this is authentic research that they are doing themselves, is they have to turn in something called documenting performance, in which they give us 20 photos of them doing the research. It's not something that's ever turned in, Laura would never see these things.

Laura Brewer: I'm going to steal that idea though. I like it.

Shelley Kozlowski: It's called documenting performance, and it's been somewhat successful because it's 20 photos that show them doing-

Ashley Mengwasser: At work.

Shelley Kozlowski: ... yes, their work.

Ashley Mengwasser: Does GSEF regulate this in any way, Laura?

Laura Brewer: Well, by the time they get to GSEF, they've already done the work, but we are looking for it. It's something that we certainly talk to the judges about, and I know that they're looking for. There are some kind of formal structures in place, the forms that the students have to fill out, some of them have to be done if they work with a mentor or at a research institution, those have to be filled out that really delineate what did the student do versus what did their mentor do. But really a lot of it comes down to the instincts and the expertise of our judges. They've been in the STEM fields for many years, and they can tell, for the most part, they have a feel for it. So that's what the interview is for, is to talk to the students and try to suss it out. What did they do? What did maybe somebody else do?

Shelley Kozlowski: I like that. Suss it out.

Laura Brewer: Yeah.

Ashley Mengwasser: Yeah. And the question was how do you ensure students are driving this? But I know that we are fine with parental involvement, there might be a place for parents to give feedback to their students as they're doing this iterative process. So in what ways could we encourage parental involvement in a science fair project?

Shelley Kozlowski: Unfortunately, at Whitewater High, we've yet to have sort of like a school fair where we invite all the parents in. It's just never happened. I really wanted to do it this year. At the end of the school year, it's right after Thanksgiving, right before Christmas, is when all of this happens and it's just really hard to plan that stuff. But aside from that, parent involvement during the whole process in the school fair is just communication via our ParentSquare app.

Ashley Mengwasser: Yeah. Do parents come to GSEF, Laura?

Laura Brewer: They do. So we do have a public day that they're welcome to, and they're welcome to help the students set up their exhibits, and that's a fun time because they're doing display and safety checks during that time. But I think the most important role for parents is helping the students stay on track and on schedule. If they are participating in the science fair system, and they do want to get as far as GSEF or ISEF, they have to get certain approvals and certain forms done early in the process. And that can be a lot for students. And that's something that parents can certainly help with. We want the students to have ownership of that process because red tape is a part of life at any stage, so it's good for them to have that experience. But if parents can help them stay on track, stay on schedule, get the approvals they need, and be abreast of what they're doing, that's really helpful.

Ashley Mengwasser: The administrative side of this.

Laura Brewer: Yes.

Shelley Kozlowski: We just recently had our county science fair award ceremony, it was this past Tuesday night, I think, and for the first time, I met a lot of the parents of the students. And so that was the first real face-to-face interaction I've had with science fair students' parents. And next week is the Griffin RESA Fair, so their parents are responsible for taking them and bringing them home. So parental involvement, they have to be involved because they have to take their kid to these things. That's about it at the school level.

Ashley Mengwasser: And how do you support students, or how would you recommend the teachers support students, Laura, as they're graduating from the school science fair up to county, I think you said it's regional next, Shelley, and onto state, how can we be supportive of those students as they move forward?

Laura Brewer: Same with the forms and the deadlines, that's very important. But I think also the more these students talk about what they've done and the more different types of questions that they answer, the more adept they become at communicating their science. So I think just talking to them, letting them present their research, helping them with their posters is always very helpful,

Ashley Mengwasser: Very valuable. And in the classroom, which is where you teach Shelley, how are you integrating science fair into everyday instruction

Shelley Kozlowski: With Science fair, it's not really everyday instruction. So there are the deadlines with the summer work, then with the background research, then with the research plan, and then finally when they turn in their poster. So as we roll up on those deadlines, we'll have class time to work on those things. And I've integrated a lot of peer reviewing in my class time where, for example, student A and student B are looking at each other's posters and they're going through a list of things that, is it using the metric system? Is the hypothesis clear? Are the graphs, do they have proper labels? You would be amazed at how many graphs don't have proper labels. So we've really used a lot of peer reviewing in our process because I'm one person and it's so impossible to look at 150, 175 projects and find-

Ashley Mengwasser: That closely.

Shelley Kozlowski: ... all the things.

Ashley Mengwasser: Right. Yeah. So really you're practicing the skills that are part of this in your classroom instruction.

Shelley Kozlowski: Yes.

Ashley Mengwasser: I get that. Well, let's talk about resources. I want to conclude with this. So Laura, what resources does GSEF provide for teachers who want to be involved in science fair?

Laura Brewer: Most of the resources that we are creating in-house are going to be more logistical in nature. So we have some guidance on the ISEF rules that the students have to follow from before they even start their research project. In terms of curriculum resources, we will point teachers and also regional fair directors are a good source for those types of resources, and we will point them to the Society for Science, which is the organization that runs the International Science and Engineering Fair. They have tons of amazing webinars and workshops and publications. A lot of them are science fair oriented, and I know that we have at least one Georgia teacher that has done one of those webinars. You can go find it on their site. So we'd love to kind of promote those and push those. And then in terms of finding materials that are good for that foundational level that can help inspire these project ideas, I do know that the Georgia Department of Education, their Inspire portal has a lot of really great lesson plans and ideas. And I think there's even more on there than what I can see because I couldn't access some of it because I'm not a K-12 teacher, so-

Ashley Mengwasser: Oh, shucks.

Laura Brewer: ... I think it goes pretty deep. There's a lot of great things on there. And then Georgia Public Broadcasting also has a lot of great lesson plans that teachers can access. And I'm a huge fan of the Tiny Mic series.

Ashley Mengwasser: Oh, I'm so glad you're watching that.

Laura Brewer: Yeah, it's amazing, specially inspiring for students who might want to be more innovative and more towards invention type projects. They might not realize that they're already ready to start inventing things. They can do that. It doesn't need to be something super complicated, they can go ahead and do that.

Ashley Mengwasser: Yes. And if you don't know if you're listening, what Tiny Mic is, it is a GPB education project, it's a digital series that we've partnered with Georgia Tech's K-12 InVenture Prize to feature student innovators in a fun one-minute episode weekly. And if you want to hear more about K-12 InVenture Prize or student inventions, you can go back and listen to that episode earlier this season. Shelley, for you, what resources do you rely on as a classroom teacher?

Shelley Kozlowski: First off, shout out to my two students that applied to that K-12 InVenture that's due today. As far as resources go, at the very start of it, like I've mentioned before, research tools. Again, this is sometimes the first time that they've actually looked at peer-reviewed research. So Galileo, GaleNet, JSTOR, like I've mentioned before, those tools are invaluable. And then just like Laura said, showing them the ISEF guidelines, because in my view, every student should be geared towards going to ISEF. Is it actually going to happen? No. But that's the goal.

Ashley Mengwasser: That's what they should have their eyes on.

Shelley Kozlowski: That's what they should have their eyes on. In fact, a lot of times at the start of the year, we start the year by showing the movie where a whole bunch of students go to ISEF. I forget the name of the movie, Laura?

Laura Brewer: Science Fair.

Shelley Kozlowski: Okay. It's called Science Fair apropos. At this particular science fair, the person that won was like this German kid, and he invented some type of different kind of airplane wing or something. Do you remember this? But it's very inspiring. So that is a tool. Inspiration is a tool. I believe that. As far as that goes, when it comes to experimentation, a lot of these kids just realize for the first time, I need data, not just qualitative data, but quantitative data with numbers. And so our school is equipped with stuff called PASCO equipment. And PASCO equipment is sort of like, you can have calorimeters, you can have colorimeters, we have pH probes, we have CO2 monitors, a whole bunch of equipment that they can get data from, and so we allow them to use these resources. A lot of the kids use it, and it's very valuable. And a lot of the judges love it. They love seeing that kind of-

Ashley Mengwasser: What tools were utilized in the process.

Shelley Kozlowski: Yes. And then beyond that, like I said before, and Laura said, the ISEF rules and having that paperwork, you got to have it.

Ashley Mengwasser: Do you have, both of you, I'm putting you on the spot here, thinking back, a favorite science fair project that you've seen in your time or a couple that stand out?

Shelley Kozlowski: I have a couple.

Ashley Mengwasser: Tell me.

Shelley Kozlowski: It's the two projects that made it to ISEF from Whitewater High School. The first, can I say names?

Ashley Mengwasser: Sure.

Shelley Kozlowski: The first is Caden Schaefer. He was a Pinnacle Award winner from ISEF, and his project was about fabricating a rocket engine.

Ashley Mengwasser: Incredible.

Shelley Kozlowski: It was incredible work. I can't begin to understand it. And he is an amazing kid. The second project that made it was Olivia Ray and Emily Wagner's project, in which they were trying to combat period property with their environmental engineering project. They did an incredible job.

Ashley Mengwasser: And these are public awards.

Shelley Kozlowski: These are.

Ashley Mengwasser: So, you can go and read about these young researchers and the work that they've done. What have you seen, Laura?

Laura Brewer: Well, legally, I think I have to say they're all my favorites or none of them are my favorites.

Ashley Mengwasser: Right, exactly.

Laura Brewer: I am really drawn to the projects that do have that kind of personal connection. We see students come through who are doing research on different types of cancers or Alzheimer's dementia because they have people in their lives who are affected by those diseases, and that's what's driving them to study those. I'm seeing an increase in projects in Parkinson's, which is meaningful for me because that's in my family as well. I know there was a middle school project last year, a young man who was frustrated that his dog was splashing water everywhere when he would drink from his water bowl, so he tested different splash guards to try to keep the splash under control. And when I read about that one, I was like, man, this is the kind of thing that I am doing all the time in my everyday life is just trying to solution small annoyances of how can we fix this? But then there are students who are combating very serious and very important issues. Our Pinnacle winner last year was a couple of young men who created a system for quickly and securely locking doors in a school during active threats. So that was a very important and very impressive project that they did. And then we also brought a young man to ISEF last year for his project where he had created an autonomous drone that is economical, it's 3D printed, it's easy to put together, and it can be used in disaster relief and crisis situations. And it was a phenomenal project. He's a great young man, and he ended up winning $15,000. He actually won more than that. That was one of the awards that he won.

Ashley Mengwasser: One of his awards, one of his many.

Laura Brewer: Yeah. This year's Georgia Science and Engineering Fair is going to be April 3rd through the fifth and the very last part of the fair is the, maybe the most exciting part, it's the award ceremony, and it will be at 4:00 PM on Saturday, April 5th. We partner with Georgia Public Broadcasting to put on that ceremony. Georgia Public Broadcasting provides an amazing emcee for the ceremony that brings a lot of professionalism and excitement and polish to the ceremony, which is really great. And it will be live-streamed at www.gpb.org/gsef. So we invite everyone to tune in, and it should be a great time.

Ashley Mengwasser: And watch live.

Laura Brewer: Mm-hmm.

Ashley Mengwasser: Well, thank you for being with me, Laura, Shelley.

Laura Brewer: Thank you.

Ashley Mengwasser: I have no doubt you two produce a couple of fair fairs. You run things very well. I can't wait to see all the great projects that rise to the state level at GSEF. And now for some reason, I'm craving funnel cake and popcorn, but that's beside the point, which is that science fairs are exciting and rewarding ways for students to experience the scientific method when teachers encourage students, not to blindly accept phenomena, but to ask why. You support the individuals who will someday fill STEM careers that shape our future understanding of this world. And that's a powerful thing that begins with you, a great teacher. I'm Ashley Mengwasser. Season six ain't over till it's over and it ain't over yet. So come back next week for more classroom conversations. Goodbye for now.