[Student
Area|Teacher
Area|Judge
Area]
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[Local School Evaluation] [Regional STEM Exhibition] [Symposium Prog.]
[Citywide STEM Exhibition]
[Independent Research Grant
Prog.]
[College Scholarships for
Graduating Seniors]
Part
Two: Scope of Programs
Local
School Evaluation
The STEM Exhibition Handbook is the key
source of guidelines and directions for
students interested in doing research. The
methods used in directing student
investigations and in selecting these students
to enter a regional STEM Exhibition are determined by
the principal and the school STEM Exhibition
coordinator. It is recommended that persons
with a science and/or mathematics background
be selected to judge local projects. The
guidelines for judging in the handbook should
be used as the criteria for selecting students
to represent the local school at the regional
STEM
Exhibition. Projects that show evidence of
research (not demonstrations) should be
selected for the regional STEM Exhibition.
The trend in
recent years has been to budget time in favor
of working with students to develop meaningful
research projects rather than in generating a
large school exhibition.
Students at the
high school level are given the opportunity to
submit their scientific research papers
directly to the City Symposium Committee.
Participation in the symposium is not
contingent upon the entry of an exhibit, but
the project must include primary research
conducted by the student. The research paper
requirements are identical in both the project
section and the symposium. The difference is
that students in the symposium make their
presentation to a panel of judges without the
advantage of a display.
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Area STEM Exhibition
Projects selected at the school level advance
to the regional STEM Exhibition for further judging.
All phases of these fairs are under the
direction of the regional committees.
Locations, dates, hours, number of exhibits,
judges, and supervision are determined by
these committees. These STEM Exhibitions are scheduled
during the months of January and February but
must be concluded prior to February 1.
Regional STEM Exhibition committees receive
quotas governing the number of projects that
they may send to the citywide STEM Exhibition. The regional
committee should seek qualified judges from
universities, industry, or secondary schools
not in their own region. Judges should be
given careful instructions and the guidelines
listed in the STEM Exhibition Handbook. The
judging should emphasize originality and
research. Demonstration projects should not
ordinarily receive "Outstanding" and should
not be sent to the citywide STEM Exhibition. It is suggested
that after the judging is completed, students
should be given comment cards that recommend
ways they might improve their project and/or
presentation prior to the citywide STEM Exhibition.
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Symposium
Program
High school
research papers, processed through the high
school STEM Exhibition coordinator and
accepted by the Symposium Committee, are
presented by the selected students on Thursday
of the week of the fair. Each school is
allowed to submit no more than 30 papers to
the symposium. The 30 papers include both
symposium papers and essay papers. The
deadline for submission of papers is FIRM and
will not be extended. See the Calendar
of Events for the deadline date.
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Citywide STEM
Exhibition
Projects
selected at the regional STEM Exhibitions are exhibited at
Illinois Tech during a three-day STEM Exhibition. Each
exhibitor at the citywide STEM Exhibition must be currently
enrolled in a Chicago public school, grades
7-12. Seventh- or eighth-grade students may
have one partner with their exhibit. High
school students may not have a partner.
Approximately
200 exhibits from the 9 regions of the Chicago
Public Schools are evaluated by university and
industrial judges. Awards given are
"outstanding," "excellent," and "honorable
mention." Companies and organizations present
special awards and tours to selected students.
A separate group of judges makes these
selections based upon their own criteria.
Specific
students will be chosen to represent the
Chicago Public Schools at the International
Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF).
Approximately 65 students are selected to
participate in the exhibition and paper
sessions at the Illinois Junior Academy of
Science (IJAS) virtually on dates to be
determined. Participants in the state STEM
Exhibition must meet any and all requirements
determined by IJAS rules. Participants in ISEF
are bound by all of their published rules.
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Independent Research
Grant Program
The purpose of the Research Grant Program is
to financially assist students beyond the
resources of their classroom teachers and
their schools. The Minigrant
Program allows students to apply for
research grants not to exceed $100 per
semester. Students may apply for and receive a
maximum of two grants per school year, not to
exceed $200. Deadline dates are announced on
the Calendar of Events.
The Maxi Grant
Program allows students to apply for a
one-time-only cash grant of up to $500. A
detailed proposal must be submitted to the
Research Grant Committee for consideration. If
the student's application passes the initial
screening, he/she must present his/her
proposal in person to the Research Grant
Committee.
Funds are
awarded directly to the student, not to the
school. Research funds are for the purchase of
materials that are consumable or are not
normally found in the school. The student is
responsible for keeping a careful record of
expenditures. The student should forward
receipts and a written report to the
Chairperson of the Research Grant Committee.
All non-consumable, serviceable materials must
be returned to the student's home school upon
completion of the research project.
Applications for research grants are found in
the appendix of the STEM Exhibition Handbook.
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College
Scholarships for Graduating Seniors
Seniors who are prospective graduates of
Chicago public high schools and who are
participating in or who have participated in a
Chicago Public Schools Student STEM Exhibition either at the
regional or city level and/or in a student
symposium are urged to file an application for
a scholarship. To qualify for a scholarship, a
candidate must submit to the Scholarship
Committee, by the deadline date, a completed
application form with supporting documents.
The high school science department chair and
high school counselors will supply the
scholarship forms and will assist in the
processing of the application. Additional
applications can be obtained by following
this link. The scholarship application
is also found in the appendix of the STEM Exhibition Handbook.
The Scholarship
Committee, representing business and
education, screens all applications and
chooses a number of students for interviews.
After these interviews, the committee selects
the scholarship recipients on the basis of the
following:
- amount of
STEM Exhibition participation and levels of
achievement
- academic
profile: types of courses and grades, class
rank, and standardized test results
- career
objectives
- extracurricular
activities
(school and community)
- personal
characteristics and letters of
recommendations
- written
autobiography
There are
monetary scholarships which are awarded
directly to the student, as well as college
and university scholarships. Near the end of
the school year, education and business
leaders present the scholarships at an awards
reception.
A list of
university scholarships made available to
Student STEM Exhibition, Inc., for seniors
graduating from Chicago public high schools in
June, 2023 appears in the STEM Exhibition Handbook.
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