Despite the rain, on Friday, Sept. 16, the University hosted the grand opening of the Science Initiative Building with the inaugural STEM Carnival.
For the first carnival of its kind, all the school’s science departments came together to showcase what they can offer students and to celebrate Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM).
“We were excited to just show off what we do and hoping to get more students aware of us on campus,” Grace Shearrer, an assistant professor in Family Consumer Sciences in Nutrition, said.
“I’m super, super excited about the carnival because as a first-generation student, I think outreach is one of the most invaluable tools that scientists have,” Rebecca Collins, a graduate student studying botany and soil sciences in the new Science Initiative Building, said.
Tours of the Science Initiative Building were given throughout the day in order to showcase the new facilities and all that the new building has to offer.
As a part of the University’s Science Initiative, this building focuses on the critical aspect of promoting active learning, or the instructional approach that uses collaborative work among small groups of students and instructors.
“We were the first people to teach in the building and we’re still trying to figure out some of the tech aspects,” Dr. Christopher North, a professor in the botany department, said. “But overall the classrooms will play a big part in the learning outcomes we are hoping for.”
Compared to lecture-style classes, these newer classrooms are designed to increase student participation and retention of the material being taught.
“I took Gen Bio as a freshman, like seven years ago. We call those chalk talks and they’re pretty awful,” Collins said. “But if you use active learning and relate things to the students, that helps make a connection and improves their learning experience.”
SI collaborators hope to host the STEM carnival annually in hopes it will highlight the work of more than one department on campus and make science and hands-on discovery available to the public.
“I think as scientists our job is mostly to communicate science. Doing the science is important, obviously, but communicating it to the public is where the field is going,” Collins said. “So getting people excited about scientists, getting the public to trust science is really important and carnivals like this help do that and I think we should have more of them.”
