After an unforgettable 2014 Expo with over 2000 visitors stopping by their booth, Science Buddies is proud to return to the USA Science & Engineering Festival in 2016 as a media partner. Science Buddies recognizes USASEF’s commitment to improving the lives of all students through STEM learning and is excited to once again help inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers.
Science Buddies empowers K-12 students, teachers, and parents to quickly and easily find thousands of FREE project ideas and resources in all areas of science, from astronomy to zoology. Science Buddies helps put scientist-authored resources at everyone’s fingertips, including how-to guides, project ideas, and advice, making science fun and accessible by all.
Science Buddies reaches over 17 million students, teachers, and parents each year, so their media partnership provided a comprehensive platform for messaging to the different Festival audiences before, during, and after the event. At the festival, Science Buddies staff scientist and volunteers spent three days interacting with participants. They helped kids figure out how to build tiny toothbrush robots, Bristlebots, and shared hands-on science resources with parents and teachers. After the tremendous success of the Bristlebot activity, Science Buddies even went on to develop it into one of their new science kits.
Science Buddies provides K-12 science fair project kits, designed to support learning while minimizing the frustration of finding the right supplies. Students should focus on learning science, which means researching, designing and conducting their experiments, not trying to find parts. Science Buddies currently sells 35 kits for beginner to advanced science projects, that cover a wide range of topics including chemistry, food science, robotics, environmental engineering, energy, plant biology, and many others. The goal is to provide something fun for everyone!
USASEF is rich with potential collaborators, and last year Science Buddies was able to meet with over 70 funders and partners during the festival window. Part of Science Buddies’ goal is to spread the word about the massive library of science fair project ideas, activities, and resources available free of charge to anyone who registers with them online. Cultivating and nurturing relationships with like-minded colleagues in a setting that is fun, forward-thinking and highly energizing is one of the benefits of the event.
But one of the most memorable USASEF moments for Science Buddies was when a boy, who had just completed a science fair project written by our Staff Scientist, Ben Finio, came into the booth and was so excited to meet the person behind “his” science fair project that he asked for a photo with Ben! Part of inspiring kids in STEM is having them meet actual scientists and understand the people behind the science, so that it no longer is something out of their reach.
This year, Science Buddies looks forward to once again engaging with parents as well as displaying the breadth of resources that they have to offer. Check out their free resources online at www.sciencebuddies.org.
