Flipped Science Fair Invites Children to Judge Graduate Student Posters Through a University-Community Partnership

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dc.contributor.authorLewis, Abigail L.en
dc.contributor.authorO’Malley, Graceen
dc.contributor.authorPalissery, Gates K.en
dc.contributor.authorHensley, Amandaen
dc.contributor.authorLloreda, Carla Lópezen
dc.contributor.authorPerez, Claudiaen
dc.contributor.authorBueren, Emma K.en
dc.date.accessioned2024-07-30T15:02:39Zen
dc.date.available2024-07-30T15:02:39Zen
dc.date.issued2023-10-03en
dc.description.abstractFlipped Science Fairs put power directly into children’s hands, inviting them to judge graduate student science fair posters. At the fair, graduate students practice communicating their research to a young audience, while children have the opportunity to see themselves as valued contributors in science. Here, we present a model for a walk-in Flipped Science Fair, designed in partnership between nine Virginia Tech graduate students and the Roanoke City Public Libraries (RPL; Roanoke, VA, USA). At our event, 27 graduate students presented posters about their research, with an audience of over 250 community members. We found that hosting the Flipped Science Fair at a public library lowered barriers to entry for participants and allowed us to reach an audience further from the university. While judging posters, children learned about a wide range of leading-edge research and had meaningful interactions with diverse scientists in small-group settings. Conversely, for graduate students, this event and associated training workshops provided an opportunity to practice communicating their research to a new audience. Throughout this article, we share our experience as graduate students collaboratively conceptualizing and organizing this community-oriented Flipped Science Fair with public library partners.en
dc.description.sponsorshipFinancial support for our Flip the Fair program came from the American Geophysical Union (AGU), the Center for Communicating Science at Virginia Tech, and RPL; many thanks to these major funders. Likewise, we are grateful for additional support and in-kind donations contributed by organizations within Virginia Tech and the surrounding community. The co-authors of this paper receive financial support from multiple sources. In particular, Abigail Lewis acknowledges support for her Ph.D. from the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF; DGE-1840995 and DEB- 1753639), the Institute for Critical Technology and Applied Science (ICTAS), and the College of Science Roundtable at Virginia Tech. Carla López Lloreda acknowledges support for her Ph.D. from the U.S. National Science Foundation (DGE-1840995).en
dc.format.extent12 pagesen
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen
dc.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.15695/jstem/v6i1.14en
dc.identifier.issue1en
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10919/120763en
dc.identifier.volume6en
dc.language.isoenen
dc.publisherVanderbilt University Libraryen
dc.rightsCreative Commons Attribution 4.0 Internationalen
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/en
dc.subjectFlipped Science Fairen
dc.subjectGraduate Studenten
dc.subjectOccupational Self-efficacyen
dc.subjectPublic Engagementen
dc.subjectPublic Libraryen
dc.subjectScience Communicationen
dc.subjectScience Fairen
dc.subjectScience Outreachen
dc.subjectSTEMen
dc.subjectUniversity-Community Partnershipen
dc.titleFlipped Science Fair Invites Children to Judge Graduate Student Posters Through a University-Community Partnershipen
dc.title.serialJournal of STEM Outreachen
dc.typeArticle - Refereeden
dc.type.dcmitypeTexten

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