DISTRICT SCHOOL BOARD OF NIAGARA
DSBN Holds Inaugural STEM Expo

District School Board of Niagara (DSBN) is set to welcome 400 students to its first-ever STEM Expo on March 5 at the Central Community Centre in Niagara-on-the-Lake where they will participate in eight grade-level technical challenges directly focused on the science and technology curriculum.

This inaugural event aims to empower students from 49 elementary schools to explore and showcase their scientific abilities by designing and presenting projects that merge curriculum knowledge, curiosity-driven inquiry, engineering design, skilled trades, and a thorough understanding of the scientific process.

"The DSBN STEM Expo is a celebration and culmination of both student and teacher learning in science, technology, engineering and mathematics," said Brad Digweed, Student Achievement Leader. "This event will highlight the importance of promoting transferable skills such as critical thinking, problem solving, innovation, creativity, and entrepreneurship in our DSBN classrooms. We are really looking forward to it and we hope it will be the first of many future STEM Expo events."

Grade-level technical challenges include:

Earthquake Towers (Grade 5)
Students will showcase their architectural engineering skills as they design, build and test skyscrapers to withstand the seismic forces of an earthquake machine.

Airplane Launcher (Grade 6)
Following the engineering design process, students will design and code Micro:bit airplane launchers to test their knowledge of the forces of flight.

Green Energy/Turbines (Grade 7)
Students use their critical thinking skills and creativity in this sustainable energy-focused challenge, building aerodynamic turbines that will be tested in a wind tunnel to measure their electrical output.

Hydraulics (Grade 8)
Students will learn about hydraulic forces by building variable-motion, pressurized arms that will move multiple objects during a timed challenge which includes coding Micro:bit infrared sensors.

Construction (Grade 7/8)
Working directly with high school technology departments, students will demonstrate their skilled trades abilities through planning and construction tasks - building small models and using 3D software - as they work towards a final full-scale construction project.

Video Editing (Grade 7/8)
Students become videographers at the STEM Expo! They will capture video footage of the event and edit into polished final features that will be used to celebrate the big day.

Character Animation (Grade 7/8)
Using animation software, students will channel their creativity to develop a 3-minute video which tells a captivating story in response to an image prompt.

Science Fair (Grades 5 to 8)
From conducting research and identifying variables to recording observations, interpreting data and presenting their findings, students will be guided through key steps to complete an inquiry-based project.

Similar to the DSBN Technological Skills Challenge, gold medalists from the DSBN STEM Expo will advance to the Skills Ontario Competition (SOC), held May 6 and 7 at the Toronto Congress Centre. Many of the Science Fair participants will also compete at the Niagara Regional Science and Engineering Fair on March 23 at Brock University.

Media interested in attending the Skills Challenge are asked to contact Carly Sutherland, Communications Officer at carly.sutherland@dsbn.org to arrange a time.