Local Students Receive Inaugural Saint Louis Science Center Science Communicator Awards at the STEM STL Project Lead the Way Showcase

Each spring, high school seniors gather at the STEMSTL Project Lead the Way (PLTW) Showcase to exhibit capstone projects from their Project Lead the Way courses in engineering and biomedical science. The Saint Louis Science Center was proud to welcome back the Showcase and the students demonstrating innovative STEM projects. Science Center education and exhibit team members were thrilled to attend and present the inaugural Saint Louis Science Center Science Communicator Award to three outstanding students.

The Science Communicator Award evaluated the capstone projects using three categories:

• Look: Does the submission look like an exhibit, and is it displayed clearly in an eye-catching way?
• Language: Does the submission articulate the science and engineering concepts at play in a way that is easy to understand?
• Link: Does the submission tie into important concepts the Science Center has identified as being core to our mission and strategic plan?

In the three winning projects, the students clearly articulated the complicated scientific and engineering ideas they were studying in a way that anyone could understand. For example, Aeden Owens, in his project on creating an HHO Generator, explained the science behind splitting water molecules to create hydrogen gas for a combustion engine in a simple and effective way.

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The projects selected also had a clear tie to the concepts at the core of the Saint Louis Science Center’s mission and strategic plan. In his project on enhancing road line visibility, Blake Roach innovated the existing design of painted lane-lines to increase visibility in rainy road conditions using authentic Missouri Department of Transportation (MODOT) materials.

Projects also had to meet the Science Center’s exhibit standards, ensuring information is clear, easy to read and accurate. In Isaiah Parker and Ashley Stead’s project on evaluating the human physiological response to different colored noise, the students communicated their data clearly in their graphs and figures through the effective use of colors and captions.

All three winning projects exemplify outstanding science communication. The projects will be displayed through Labor Day weekend and can be found on the Science Center’s second floor next to the Dream It. Build It. exhibit and Makerspace.

Want to support the Science Center’s impactful STEM learning programs? For a limited time, you can double your impact with the Crawford Taylor Foundation’s matching gift challenge, where gifts will be matched dollar for dollar. Join the challenge and donate to the Science Center’s Curiosity Fund here.

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