CCSD Schools Shine in Thermo Fisher Scientific STEM Competition
South Cache Middle School's winning team displaying their project
Science rules, just ask Bill Nye the Science Guy, or this year’s Thermo Fisher Scientific STEM competition participants. Fifth through eighth-grade students from all around Cache Valley and neighboring communities were put to the test as they were challenged to create an engineering design for the fifth annual Thermo Fisher competition, held on December 7th.
STEM, an acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math, is a national curriculum initiative which promotes the education of these economically vital subjects. Its purpose is to generate interest and recognize excellence in young scholars through fun, engaging activities.
Students spent the first six weeks of the school year preparing for this year’s Thermo Fisher Scientific STEM competition. Working in small teams of four to six, and with a mentor from the local Thermo Fisher branch, participants had to design a project blueprint to meet a given set of specifications. Each group was asked to construct a design that would lift a minimum weight of one pound to the height of one foot within 60 seconds, using a K’Nex building kit.
On the day of the competition, each team had one hour to build the project from scratch, according to the blueprint they had designed. K’Nex building sets were used as the medium for construction. Teams were judged on their design, narrative, blueprint, teamwork, creativity, presentation and performance.
Congratulations to the following teams on their success in the competition:
7th and 8th Grade Bracket
South Cache Middle School 1st $4,000
Preston Junior High 2nd $3,000
5th and 6th Grade Bracket
Preston Junior High 1st $4,000
Cedar Ridge B 2nd $3,000
Summit A 3rd $2,000
Cedar Ridge A 4th $1,000
Providence B 5th $500
Providence A 6th $500
Adams B 7th $500
Summit B 8th $500
Thank you to Thermo Fisher Scientific for hosting, yet another, stimulating STEM competition!