Moorestown Township Public Schools’ Science Fair will be on April 6 at Moorestown’s Upper Elementary School from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Students from all grade levels are encouraged to submit projects and experiments and may work in groups of two or three.
“I’ve been here for six years now, and it’s been a rewarding experience and very challenging given everything that’s happened over the last couple of years,” said Gavin Quinn, district supervisor of science for MTPS.
He explained that he’s anticipating bringing the science fair back in-person for students and the importance of giving students a space to express their creativity.
“It gives kids an opportunity to get out of the classroom and explore some topics that are really important to them and then share their results with the community,” Quinn said. “It’s a low pressure, low stakes kind of event for our students to kind of dip their toes into the science fair waters and really have an opportunity to do work on their own and then bring their work to the fair.”
This non-competitive event features volunteer scholars who will ask students questions about their projects and what they learned from participating in the fair.
“The goal is to really just kind of spark that interest in students exploring science on their own,” said Quinn. “Ideally having a love and a passion for it that translates to the classroom and then if they’re really serious, they can look into joining our science teams.”
All residents are welcome to be volunteer scholars and no background in science is required.
“We ask for anyone from the community that would like to volunteer,” Quinn said. “They’re encouraged to go where the conversation takes them as they’re engaging with our students.”
Over 150 students from the school district participated in the fair’s 2019 event and more than 120 projects were submitted that same year.
The 2020 science fair was canceled due to COVID and last year it was virtual.
“The best part about the science fair is the collegiality, where you are having a face-to-face conversation and sharing your ideas with a live audience,” Quinn said. “Being able to articulate what you did and the insight that you gained to people in front of you.”
Quinn looks forward to students seeing their classmates’ science projects and simply having fun.
“It’s a more free-flowing event and you get to see who’s there and what they brought to the table,” he said. “That’s the whole point about our Moorestown fair is that it’s about the process and not necessarily about the end result.”
For more information on the fair and to register, visit www.mtps.com.
