What is a STEM Fair?
STEM Fair is a group project that allows students to express their creativity through Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. Students look for an issue that interests them, explore through research to find the possible solutions. They create hands-on projects, conduct experiments, or create prototypes, as a way to present their solution, and explain their findings through Scientific, Mathematical, and Islamic reasoning.
The STEM Fairs at Al Jabr Islamic school always have a connection to an Ayat from the Al Quran.
“Sesungguhnya pada penciptaan langit dan bumi, pergantian malam dan siang bahtera yang berlayar di laut dengan (muatan) yang bermanfaat bagi manusia, apa yang Allah turunkan dari langit berupa air, lalu dengannya Dia menghidupkan bumi setelah mati (kering), dan Dia menebarkan di dalamnya semua jenis hewan, dan pengisaran angin dan awan yang dikendalikan antara langit dan bumi, (semua itu) sungguh merupakan tanda-tanda (kebesaran Allah) bagi kaum yang mengerti.” Qs. Al-Baqarah: 164.
Why STEM Fair?
Al Jabr Islamic School participates in STEM fair because this project allows students to collaborate as they navigate through their curiosity and exploration. It encourages students to develop their inquiry, investigation, and many different skills. Students learn to ask questions, form hypotheses, design experiments, and develop practical solutions to real-life problems. STEM fairs foster a passion for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics by encouraging students to explore their interests through hands-on, authentic, and independent research. These events boost critical thinking and problem-solving skills while introducing students to their potential career paths in innovation. They later showcase their project to parents, teachers, and students from different schools, which will increase their communication and presentation skills.
Students apply various IB Learner Profiles throughout their project.
- Inquirer: developing research questions and hypotheses, designing and conducting experiments, exploring interests
- Thinker: solving complex problems, data analysis, drawing conclusions
- Communicator: sharing and presenting their ideas with the audience
- Knowledgeable: applying interdisciplinary understanding, exploring concepts, ideas, and issues.
- Reflective: evaluating process, progress, impact, analyzing results, identifying limitations, evaluation and future action, self evaluation.