Interview Sleepy Hollow students about their STEAM Expo projects on Thursday, March 27 between 8:00a and 2:30p at Sleepy Hollow Elementry School.
Member's of the community who are passionate about the Science's & Arts are invited to interview students about their projects for the Sleepy Hollow STEAM Expo.
During the STEAM Expo, interviewers meet with students for 10 minute interviews to talk to them about their projects, then spend 5 minutes completing a feedback form with project & presentation feedback.
On the surface these are interviews, but what we're really doing is giving the students an opportunity to teach their projects to you and share their pride and enthusiasm for the work they did in their project.
To start, you'll select times you're available to interview students on the STEAM Expo interviewer dashboard. Be sure to add the times to your calendar so you don't forget!
We recommend committing to at least 4 interviews, which is approximately 1 hour. It's fine if you want to schedule more or less interviews.
If you read this guide, you should be ready to start interviewing when you arrive. If you have questions or forget when you arrive, parent coordinators will be present to point you in the right direction.
You may park in any open parking spot at Sleepy Hollow Elementary School, 20 Washington Ln, Orinda, CA 94563. If you're not familiar with Sleepy Hollow, give yourself extra time to find parking and the multi-purpose room.
When you arrive at Sleepy Hollow on the day of the STEAM Expo, a parent coordinator will meet you by the multipurpose room to make sure you have everything you need to successfully conduct student interviews.
Not much! You'll need to bring your phone so you can scan student interview tickets and leave feedback for their project and presentation. Paper forms will be available as a backup.
The goal of the interviews is for the students have the opportunity to teach a grown-up and come away from the experience with a more confidence and interest in STEAM.
The ages of the students you'll interview vary from 4-5 year old TK students to 11-12 year old 5th graders. You'll need to adjust the questions to be age appropriate.
Students are instructed wait by their project board and wait for an interviewer. You'll walk to students waiting to be interviewed and ask them for their interview ticket. The ticket has a QR code, which you'll scan to check them-in and start a project evaluation.
If you're interviewing a group of students, you'll only need to scan one of their tickets to check them all in and give them all feedback.
Try following the lead of the students you're interviewing as much as possible with your own line of questioning.
Here's a few example questions you might ask if you need to get the ball rolling or get stuck:
All projects
Why/How did you choose the project?
What is the purpose of your project?
What research did you do?
What was the most important thing you learned while working on the project?
What was the hardest part (or most fun/exciting/surprising, etc)?
If you had to do it all over again, is there anything you would do differently? Why?
Scientific inquiry
What was your control?
What variable(s) did you change?
What did you measure and how?
How did your results compare to your hypothesis?
Robotics
What is the purpose of your robot?
Explain the mechanical design & the components..
What software programs did you use (if any)?
Reverse Engineering
Explain the operation of the assembled unit.
Identify the parts and its function.
What modifications would you make to the unit? Why?
Coding
Explain the “bugs” you encountered and how you fixed them.
How would you take this project further if you had the time?
What new coding techniques did you learn through this project?
Invention, wearable design, environmental innovation
What real world problem or need does your project meet?
Describe the components of your design and their functions.
If you had unlimited money or supplies, how far would you want to take this?
Where or when have you seen this problem in the real world?
Do you know how much this product or solution might cost in real world money?
Interviews usually take around 10 minutes to complete, but may take between 7-15 minutes. When the interview is over, the students will go back to their classrooms.
After each student interview, you'll spend 5 minutes leaving them feedback about their project.
After reach interview, you'll leave feedback for the students about their project and presentation. This feedback gives students an opportunity to improve future projects and learn how they can deliver more effective presentations.
Only one evaluation needs to be completed per project team. Teams of multiple students will all receive the same feedback that you provide them.
The format of the feedback should be "“1 way to go, 1 way to grow, 1 way to go”:
What part of the project or presentation did you think the students did particularly well?
How do you think the students could improve their project or presentation of their findings?
End the evaluation on a positive note with praise and encouragement about the project or presentation.
If your plans change last minute and you can't make it, consider arranging for a replacement or notify a parent coordinator so arrangements can be made for the students to be interviewed by another person.
Students put a lot of hard work into their projects and they absolutely love teaching grown-ups what they've learned.