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It's science fair season—an exciting time for students and teachers alike. In communities around the world, more than a million students are busy polishing their research projects to enter in local competitions. Some 1,200 winners of regional events affiliated with the Intel International Science and Engineer Fair will come together in the U.S. in May to compete with students from every corner of the globe.
What makes these events worthwhile from a teacher's perspective? We decided to ask Sheila Porter. She teaches science at Loreto College, St. Stephen's Green, an all-girls secondary school in Dublin, Ireland, housed in an elegant Georgian building dating to 1771. Each year, she mentors and guides some 50 girls who enter projects in Ireland's national fair, the Esat BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition. Because of the high level of student participation she inspires, Porter has twice received the Young Scientist Teacher Award sponsored by Intel. Her swarm of students—dressed in their burgundy school uniforms and neckties—are hard to miss on the crowded exhibition floor at the Royal Dublin Society where the Young Scientist event unfolds each January.
How did you get started with science fairs?
I started teaching 30 years ago. Being young and enthusiastic, I encouraged my students to enter the science fair. It was a fantastic experience for me and the girls. Then I took a break from teaching. I've been back in the classroom now about 12 years. It's been like starting teaching all over again, and I'm refreshed and enthusiastic again. I started entering students again in the fair in 1995. We had two students that year, and they were successful. The next year, we had nine. And from that it's grown, so over the last three years we've had over 50 students and over 20 projects each year. I teach biology and general science, but my students enter all disciplines—physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics, social/behavioral science, technology, whatever they like to do themselves.What do students gain from the experience?
With project work, particularly when students pick the project themselves, it's something they want to do. They become the experts. Eventually they know more about their topic than I do. So it's a great way of learning. They're interested, and they're doing it for themselves. It's very rewarding to see a student come into her own with a project of her own choosing.
How do you recruit students to participate?
I never turn a student away. I encourage everybody to come and have a try at it. First I announce it and have a meeting, and maybe seventy students attend. I show a video of past fairs. Also, after the fair, when we go back to school we have an exhibition of all the projects. We leave them up for a week. The other teachers will come and ask the girls about their projects and admire them. So we have great excitement, and that sort of sets the ball rolling. It's become a culture at our school.
Before they start working on science fair projects, do your students get a foundation of scientific research skills in the classroom?
In Ireland, students have the opportunity to do a transition year that includes a science module. This comes after their third year [Irish secondary school is typically a six-year program, for ages 12-18]. This is a year where teachers get to devise the syllabus, allowing them to be more creative in their approach and course content. It's an ideal opportunity to teach something like scientific research and the process of science. So I introduce that as a sort of formal model in transition year class. In that way, students learn how to go about doing research, and I encourage them to enter projects in the Young Scientist Exhibition. This school has a great tradition of having a strong science program. All of the science teachers do practical work—laboratory experiments—as much as we can.
What's the atmosphere like at your school as the Young Scientist deadline approaches?
It's a great atmosphere of work and learning and helping one another. Right before the exhibition, the girls are getting their projects finished, and they'll come to the school for a couple of days during the Christmas holidays when nobody else is there. The older ones will help the younger ones. On the teams—most of my girls enter team projects—everybody has a different role to play. They learn to work together, and that's very important. It's such a lovely atmosphere. Students become so engrossed in their work that we don't even stop for lunch and send out for food! It's an air of everybody working together and everybody learning.
Because of your teaching awards and other invitations, you've now attended four ISEF events in the U.S. What has your involvement in the international fair meant to you as a teacher?
The first year I won, I didn't even know there was an award. I just could not believe it when they told me I had won, and I'd be coming to America. Then two years later, I won it again. And I've been invited to attend two other ISEF events as a group leader for other teachers. This has added a new dimension for me as a teacher. I've learned so much from attending the events, seeing students' projects, and getting the chance to meet other teachers from around the world. We've exchanged a lot of ideas, and we've stayed in contact. It's great to hear things from another point of view. As a teacher, you should be learning new things all the time. You need to get out of your own classroom and meet one another. In science, particularly, there is so much to learn.
What's the best part of science fairs?
A lot of people say to me, why do you bother? You're giving up your free time to do this. And I say, I do it because I want to do it. I get as much pleasure from it as the students get. That's my reward: to see how happy they are. They grow so much in self-confidence. As a teacher, you just have a lovely relationship with your students. And they do learn—most of them know more about their topic than I do now. And that's OK. I'm only there to guide them. They might go on to become doctors or get their Ph.D., but when they meet me again years from now, they will always say, "Remember when we did the Young Scientist?"
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