STEM Professionals in the Classroom – Atlanta Science Festival

Classroom Visits by STEM Professionals

ONE DAY. ONE HUNDRED CLASSROOMS. IMAGINING THE FUTURE.

What does it look like to launch the future of STEM? How can hands on experiences shape how future STEM investigations are shaped? How can you be transformative in helping students to see themselves in STEM spaces?

Be a part of the change by Imagining the Future with us during this year’s Atlanta Science Festival! On Thursday, March 7, 2024*, metro STEM professionals will visit classrooms across Atlanta as catalysts to inspire a love of STEM within K-12 students. Leaders across multiple industries will come together to demonstrate the power of science to pique interests that students may not have known they had.

*  Visits may take place virtually or in-person.

STEM Professionals

Researchers, engineers, technicians, graduate students and anyone with a STEM-related career: registration is open now.

Please view our Frequently Asked Questions for information on what to expect. See our Speaker Guide for additional information including what to do before/during/after your visit, helpful tips, and a sample lesson outline.

REGISTEROPEN NOW!

Teachers

K-12 educators: registration to request a STEM professional to visit your classroom is open now.

We are committed to supporting metro Atlanta schools including: Atlanta, Buford City, Clayton, Cobb, Decatur, DeKalb, Douglas, Forsyth, Fulton, Gwinnett, Marietta City, Rockdale. Teachers from these districts will receive priority consideration. For more info, please view our Frequently Asked Questions, and review the Teacher Guide for additional information including what to do before/during/after the visit, and helpful tips. We will do our best to fill the first 100 requests, but cannot guarantee that we will be able to match every request.

REGISTEROPEN NOW!

Questions? Contact [email protected]

Frequently Asked Questions

Teachers and Schools FAQs

Visits can occur virtually OR in-person if both parties agree. If virtual, please use the platform that your students are most accustomed to, and test the platform in advance with your STEM professional, to ensure they have access and can use the desired features (screen share, etc.).

Most STEM professionals will have prepared a 30-minute presentation about the questions/problems they are addressing in their work and the challenges facing the future of their field, leaving additional time for Q&A or other interactions. Some will also have a demo or hands-on activity prepared. Please understand that most STEM professionals are not trained educators. They are coming to your classroom not to teach specific content standards, but rather to share their experiences in the STEM workforce and to show how students’ STEM learning in class could be applied in the real world. Our STEM professionals are encouraged to be interactive, bring tools of their trade, show pictures of their workplace, share their career journey, ask questions and allow for student discussion, work with you to better understand students’ prior knowledge and grade-appropriate learning outcomes, do a brief demo of a scientific concept that relates to their job or industry, or to engage the class in an inquiry-based activity where possible. However, not every presentation will include all these elements. You may wish to examine the Speaker Guide provided by ASF (contains tips and sample lesson outline) to better understand what the Festival intends for STEM professionals to do.

With your help and communication prior to the visit, STEM professionals can meet your expectations to the best of their abilities. It is vital that you contact the STEM professional ahead of time to discuss these issues, as well as the logistics of time/date/platform for online delivery/etc.

See Teacher Guide for more information on what to expect from your visit.

Imagining the Future seeks to increase students’ a) knowledge of the unique science and technology coming out of Atlanta universities and businesses, b) interest in STEM careers, and c) understanding of the unsolved problems and unanswered questions facing STEM industries.

While we prefer you try to make a visit on March 7 happen, if that is not possible you may work with your partner to schedule a classroom visit at both your convenience any time prior to March 23, 2024. If you must reschedule, we ask that you let us know your new date.

Fill out the online request form (linked above), available through February 8, 2024*. We cannot guarantee a match. Several factors are evaluated including content alignment, travel time, grade level, the Child-Well Being rating of the school’s zip code, date request was submitted. Earlier submissions have a higher probability of matching.

*COBB COUNTY EDUCATORS: Please place your request no later than January 15th, 2024 so that we may alert your district to the STEM professionals visiting your classroom by February 1, 2024.

There is a place on the registration form to specify such a request. The ASF will do our best to accommodate all requests.

These accommodations can be made, but at the discretion of the speaker. Most STEM professionals are unable to spend the entire day at your school and will not be able to visit all your classes. You may wish to organize a small assembly or combination of classes, if such arrangements are possible, especially since this will be an online environment. We understand the challenges of pulling students out of other classes. ASF will try to match STEM professionals willing to give more than one talk with schools making this request. However, with a limited supply of STEM professionals, we prefer to offer this program to more schools rather than to all students at fewer schools. Ultimately, it is up to you and the STEM professional to work out the details of the visit.

You and your matched STEM professional can work together to determine what the presentation will include.

Stem Professionals FAQs

We expect you to prepare an approximately 30-minute presentation about your career, the questions/problems you are tackling now, and the challenges facing the future of your field. We encourage you to be as interactive as possible; the online environment requires your creativity in this respect. For example, you may bring tools of your trade to show and share, show pictures of your workplace, share your career journey, ask questions and allow for student discussion, show real data and ask students to interpret them, do a brief demo of an age-appropriate scientific concept that relates to your job or industry, or engage the class in a hands-on, inquiry-based activity (notably more difficult in a virtual visit). Your visit is meant to get students excited about the work that you do, about the unanswered questions and problems in your field, and about the possibility of a career in your field. Emphasize how your work can potentially affect the future of our world. Help students see how the STEM concepts they are learning in school are applied in the real world. Avoid doing a demo/activity that is unrelated to your field. ASF staff are happy to help you develop a successful visit – please contact i[email protected]. It is vital that you contact the teacher ahead of time to clarify expectations, to share concerns, and to better understand the students’ prior knowledge and expected learning outcomes.

See Speaker Guide for helpful information including what to do before/during/after your visit, helpful tips, and a sample lesson outline.

As a STEM professional in the Imagining the Future program, your objectives are to increase students’  a) knowledge of the unique science and technology coming out of Atlanta universities and businesses, b) interest in STEM careers, and c) understanding of the unsolved problems and unanswered questions facing STEM industries. See our Speaker Guide for guidance on achieving these objectives.

Complete the online registration form available through February 8, 2024. Selections will be announced February 15th, 2024. See link above.

All classroom visits should occur on March 7, 2024. If the teacher is unable to accommodate your visit on that day, you may reschedule for another date prior to March 23, 2024. Please notify us if that is the case.

Participating schools are located throughout the Metro Atlanta area. You may request a virtual visit. We will do our best to accommodate any specific school requests.

There is space on the form to specify your preferred districts and we will do our best to accommodate all requests.

Classes will range from kindergarten to twelfth grade. Upon registration, you may specify your preferred age group(s). We do ask for your flexibility as we fulfil requests from educators. Typically, our greatest number of requests come from K-5 educators.

Classes typically run fifty minutes. We suggest preparing a thirty minute talk/activity, leaving plenty of time for questions and interactions with students. However, please discuss these details with your matched teacher.

There is a part of the registration form where you can tell us how much time you can contribute. Some schools are able to bring multiple classes together to hear a single presentation, but many teachers work with more than one class throughout the day and would be very grateful to have STEM professionals talk with several consecutive classes of students. It is likely that the teacher will want you to visit more than one classroom, so that all of their students may benefit from your visit. Please do the best you can to accommodate; however, we understand the limitations of your time off of work. ASF is doing its best to manage teachers’ expectations on this front. Ultimately, it is up to you and the teacher to work out the details.

2023 ITF Program Impact

107 Classroom Visits
10,000 Students

“Our students at Jesup Elementary LOVED meeting with [our STEM professional] from Google. He was engaging and great with elementary students. I appreciate the opportunity for our south Georgia students.”     

© 2023 ATLANTA SCIENCE FESTIVAL Alex the astronaut