The Penn State grad students have an advantage when it comes to attending a large state school: ample outreach opportunities. One of my absolute favorites has been volunteering at the annual state competition for the Pennsylvania Junior Academy of Science (PJAS). [Pro-tip: if you don't feel like reading right now, be sure check out an awesome student-made YouTube video about PJAS at the end of the post!]
PJAS was established in the 1930s as a way to get middle and high schoolers to participate in the scientific process (see a screenshot of their more detailed goals below). Students grades 7-12 get to conduct a scientific research project in one of 12 official PJAS categories under the guidance of parents, teachers, and/or scientists. In the spring the students practice giving 10-minute presentations about their research and what they learned throughout the course of their project at regional competitions. These presentations are judged and scored out of five points by an unbiased panel of teachers, and if the students average a score of 4 or better they get to give their presentation at the state competition, which is held every May at PSU. | PJAS Research CategoriesBehavioral Psychology Biology Biochemistry Botany Chemistry Computer Science Earth and Space Ecology Engineering Mathematics Microbiology Physics |
Now even though I can only speak to the state competition because that is all I've ever participated in, I am a huge fan of PJAS for a number of reasons. First and foremost is just the general atmosphere of the whole event: young people getting involved in science, taking charge of their own research projects, and even gaining oral presentation skills and learning about professionalism - they dress fancy for their talks :) I can only imagine the kind of public speaker I might be today if I had those kinds of experiences in middle school.
Second, there's just something so special about watching a budding scientist give a well-planned talk about a project that they did largely on their own. I've only ever gotten to judge the Biology talks but these kids definitely take pride in their work, especially when they came up with the idea behind the experiment. Even if they don't directly say it, you can feel their enthusiasm in the way they discuss their project. Melts my heart every year, and gives me hope for the future. |
The state competition is also a crazy fun time for the kids. They get to take a few excused absences from school to travel to PSU's main campus - which is always all flowering and lovely because graduation just happened - and hang out with their science-y friends and meet new students from other parts of PA. The students are escorted by parents and science teachers, who also get to socialize when not judging presentations or eating tons of Berkey Creamery ice cream with their students.
I'll finish off this post with a neat video I found on YouTube made by some former PJAS participants. While the students no longer use transparencies and metal pointers for their talks, every other aspect of the structured presentation guidelines is the same. Enjoy, and remember to encourage your young scientists - remind them of how awesome they are for taking a stab at the scientific process and learning something new. And if you are a young scientist without the PJAS opportunity, ask your parents to help you swab your mouth and your pets to see whose mouth has more bacteria living in it. I did that experiment when I was maybe 10 years old, and let me tell you, my younger sister's mouth was wayyy grosser than our dog's :) Cheers!