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EPISODE 9: Science Fair and "Physics & Theatre" · Elevated Insights: A TCSD Podcast

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  -
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  - Welcome to Elevated Insights, A-T-C-S-D podcast.
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  I am the superintendent of schools
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  for Toula County School District, Dr.
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  Mark Ernst. Joining us today is Sean Featherston,
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  who teaches biology and physics at Twila High School,
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  and is also our Science Fair Coordinator
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  for all things Science Fair in the school district.
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  And Sean, I understand that your path to Twila High
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  and your path to education is a little bit unique.
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  - Yeah. Yeah. I mean, um, I, so when I graduated college
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  with my degree in physics, I actually couldn't find a job.
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  And, um, I had told myself
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  that I never wanted to be a teacher.
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  So I was, I was very adamant about it.
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  - So you doomed yourself right off?
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  - I did. I did. Exactly. Yeah.
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  And so instead what I did was I actually, um, got a job
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  as a carpenter in a theater.
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  Um, 'cause I had worked throughout college in a theater,
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  sort of making my money that way.
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  And then I just sort of kept on
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  with technical theater designing
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  and making sets, hanging lights, um, um, running sound.
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  I was actually a sound engineer for a number
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  of large productions that came
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  through when I was living in Kentucky.
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  Um, and I have done
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  most every technical theater job that there is.
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  Wow. In live theater.
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  I, I haven't done anything in film,
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  but that's that, that's for other people.
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  But so about five years ago, um,
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  I was actually thinking about making a career change.
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  And so in that, I came back to Utah
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  'cause I was living in Kentucky
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  and, well, some friends sort of talked me into, okay,
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  well there's this job opening out in Dugway,
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  so there's a science teacher job out open out in Dugway.
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  I was like, well, okay, I'll try it for a year.
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  If I don't like it, I can just not do it anymore.
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  And here I'm five years later, ,
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  I've got my master's in education
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  and now I, this is a job that I truly love.
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  - So you spent a year in Dugway? Mm-Hmm.
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  - . - Yes. How was that first year?
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  Was there anything about teaching? Oh my, in general.
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  That was just a surprise to you.
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  - Well, I was incredibly bad at it.
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  like everyone is right.
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  First time you do anything, you're terrible at it.
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  And so, um,
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  and I, when I was in technical theater, I had
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  to train people and how to use power tools
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  who would never use them before.
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  So I had an idea of how to instruct,
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  but teaching there was so much more to teaching that
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  I had to develop a whole new set of soft skills.
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  And I had to really, I had to have a lot
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  of self-reflection in the craft.
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  That was something that I never had to do before.
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  And they never really teach you
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  that when you're getting a degree in physics.
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  Yeah. Um, on top of that, in addition
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  to like taking classes to get certified and get licensed
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  and everything, um, I started in 20 19, 20 20.
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  So about halfway through March is when the, uh,
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  the shutdown happened due to the pandemic.
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  Oh, right. So I had to, so I had just gotten used to sort
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  of being in person
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  and then I had to switch everything to online
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  and I didn't have any curriculum.
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  I was teaching six different classes, six
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  of which I really didn't have a whole lot of expertise in.
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  And so it was a very, um, it was a growth year. Yeah.
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  It was a lot of growth that year
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  and there was a lot of, um, there were a lot
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  of learning opportunities. Yeah.
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  - I always say that the first year, uh,
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  of being a teacher is like Indiana Jones
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  and you're just trying to stay ahead of
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  that big rolling ball that's coming at you.
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  - Absolutely. - And then year two you can kind
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  of experiment and stuff,
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  but by the time you get to year three,
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  alright, I kind of know what I'm doing.
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  But yeah, there's such a,
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  there's a bigger learning curve than I think what people
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  that aren't in education realize.
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  - Right. Because there is no amount of simulated training
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  that prepares you for the classroom.
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  Yeah. And honestly, being in the classroom
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  and connecting with the students, that's an integral part
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  of being able to teach.
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  It's because like your people in the same room
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  and how you teach
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  and how you connect with them really plays a,
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  a role in their learning. Yeah.
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  - And, and each class is a little bit different. Absolutely.
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  So you do it one way for another class
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  and you have to do it a little bit different for the other
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  - Class.
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  Exactly. Yeah. 'cause everyone's different. Now.
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  One thing that my principal, who is Jeff Wyatt,
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  who's my current principal now, he said to me,
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  don't base your career off the first year.
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  I was like, okay, I'll trust you there.
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  I'm skeptical, but I'll trust you.
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  And so now I, here I am five years later
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  and it's like, okay, well I really like this,
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  so I'm glad I didn't base it completely off the first year.
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  - You remembered the good stuff for 21. Yeah. That's great.
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  Uh, now when people think about science,
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  I think there's two schools of thought.
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  Number one is the scientist
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  with the lab code doing experiments.
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  He's got the bunsen burner, he's working
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  with high chemicals.
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  And then the other thought, thanks
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  to television is probably the Big bang theory, right, right.
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  With the, the, the, that kind of
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  nerdy really high intelligent group of people.
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  So talk to us a little about the kid in high school
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  that is interested in science, like science.
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  What are some of the pathways they could
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  take after high school?
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  - There are a lot
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  of pathways you can take after high school.
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  I mean, I had a degree in physics and I went into theater.
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  Right. And so with a degree in science,
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  you can go a lot of different places.
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  You can go into sales, you can go into, uh, marketing.
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  You can go into like essentially anything that requires
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  critical thinking and problem solving abilities.
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  Um, those professions can benefit from a science
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  like from moving forward in science.
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  Yeah. Um, and so as far as typical right,
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  there are sort of mathematical
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  and then there's the experimental.
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  Right. Um, those are actually very few,
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  like that's a very small population of scientists.
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  A lot of the scientists still work in industry,
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  but there are a lot of scientists who actually pave ways
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  in unrelated fields who then bring
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  that perspective with them.
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  - Yeah. And, and here in Tula County,
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  and you may know a little bit about this,
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  but I believe that that Dugway, uh, employs a lot
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  of scientists as part of the,
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  the Army's mission out of Dugway. Is that correct?
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  - Yes, that is very correct.
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  In fact, um, there is sort of an entire town out in the,
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  you know, about 10 minutes past the gate, uh, called Ditto,
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  where a lot of their research
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  and development is, uh, located.
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  Wow. And so, um, those are like the traditional scientists
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  that are working on biological
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  and chemical, um, I guess projects for the military,
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  but they're also, um, like aviator engineers, like, um,
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  any type of engineering also benefits
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  well from science as well.
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  So, um, out in Dugway that's where they actually train most
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  of their drone pilots is out in
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  that 800 acre area, so that way they can take them overseas
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  and then these pilots can actually pilot these remotely f
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  from hundreds of miles away.
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  - Yeah. And that's a great teaser
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  for a future podcast that we're gonna do.
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  We're gonna be talking with the commander
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  of Doug Way and Very cool.
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  Kind of what our role is is is a school district
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  on, on Dugway.
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  And so yeah, that's a,
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  that'll be a fun podcast to, to do in the future.
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  - Yeah. - So now Sean, you also do
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  district science fair stuff.
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  Yes. So talk to us a little about, first off,
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  when is the district science
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  - Fair?
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  So the district science fair this
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  year is gonna be February 1st.
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  Um, we want to try
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  and get in the paperwork from everybody, uh,
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  January 19th, a couple weeks beforehand.
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  Now, each school also has its own science
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  fair, uh, possibly.
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  And so Tula High is gonna be about a week before that.
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  Um, and so that way any students who want to want
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  to go onto the district have a chance to
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  rehearse their presentations, see
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  what their visual display is, get some feedback
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  before they go to the science fair.
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  Having said that, it's not required to be part
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  of a school science fair
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  to take part in the district science fair.
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  Okay. Right. But the paperwork does have to be put in,
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  and we have to make sure that, you know,
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  ethical protocols are observed such as
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  students did not grow bacterial cultures at home.
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  , we don't want that.
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  We don't want students making their own tasers
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  and testing it even on themselves.
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  Right. So there is a process of approval
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  that we have to go through.
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  - Yeah. So if, if I'm a parent listening to this podcast or,
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  or even a student and I'm like, Hey, I might want
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  to take part in this science fair, what do I need to do?
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  - So to start, um, what you need to do is
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  we need to first
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  of all have teachers vet the project, right.
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  So students can submit projects to science teachers,
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  make sure that the form work is filled out,
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  and we'll make sure the form work is available
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  for the entire community.
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  Um, but once it's started,
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  then they can start gathering data.
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  Now, a misconception is that you have
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  to have a new project every year.
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  That's not true. You can actually take a previous project
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  and then modify it or add on to it
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  and then show it again
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  with these modifications and additions.
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  And so there are actually a lot of students, um,
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  especially at the state level, who take a project from
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  where they first thought of it,
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  and they grow it for three or four years.
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  Okay. So that way they can become more like essentially
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  expert like experts in that subject project.
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  - That's, I had no idea. Yeah. No idea at all. Yeah.
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  So tell me, what would be, like, what are some
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  of the good science fair projects that you've seen?
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  Or if you're thinking, oh, I don't really know where
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  to start, what would be a a where would be a,
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  is there a place that you can, like find science fair
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  project ideas or
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  what would be a good, some good science fair
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  - Projects?
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  So as far as like a good science fair project,
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  the best one is one that you're interested in doing, right?
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  And so if there is a topic
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  or like a field of study
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  that you're interested in, start there.
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  And then you can sort of look at who's doing
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  what in the field, a good starting place, start with
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  what you're interested in
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  and then figure out, okay, what sort of experiment can I do
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  to solve a problem, to answer a question?
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  All of these things starting with, um, a topic of interest,
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  going deeper into what a problem might be
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  or what a question might be.
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  And then conducting the experiment,
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  taking data and presenting it.
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  - Yeah. And regardless of what happens with
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  that project, it, it's okay, right?
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  Because yes, it doesn't matter if it goes as planned
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  or completely off the rails, that's all part
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  of the data you're collecting in part
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  of your science fair project.
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  - Absolutely. Right. Yeah. There's, I mean,
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  a fail experiment still gives good information
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  because it's like, oh, well this didn't work,
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  but it sort of led me to this type of conclusion,
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  - Which also goes to your point
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  of doing the same science fair project the next year.
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  Mm-Hmm. , yes. After I've learned this,
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  now I'm making some modifications. We'll see what happens
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  - Now.
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  Absolutely. Yeah. That's, that's interesting.
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  And that's actually how a lot
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  of professional science has done anyway is they don't, like
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  researchers don't come up with a new project every single
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  time they take one project
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  and they expand on it, expand on it, expand on it
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  for sometimes decades.
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  - Sean, is the science fair open to all students
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  or are there specific, uh, grades
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  or ages that participate in the science science fair?
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  - So as far as like the competition itself goes, um,
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  we usually start students out at fifth grade
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  and there's a sort of elementary division.
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  So fifth to eighth grade is usually that division.
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  And then we go into high school with the nine through 12th.
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  Right. And so at the regional level,
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  they have those same divisions.
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  So given the separation
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  between secondary
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  and elementary junior high,
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  there are some different stipulations.
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  But, um,
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  if you have a kindergartner who's really interested in a
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  project, they can get started on it now
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  and then present when they're in fifth grade.
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  - Wow. That, that would be something to see Exactly.
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  A five year project. Yeah. That's great.
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  What's the timeframe for a student to start their project
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  so they can hit that target date of when the fair is?
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  - Okay, so, um, ideally they want
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  to start gathering data
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  and have everything approved up to a year to 18 months.
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  Right. They can still give a quality presentation
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  and project if they start at the beginning of the,
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  of the school year or even in September.
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  It really kind of depends on the project. On the project.
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  Yeah. Um, but the constraint is that
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  once you start collecting, you have about 12
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  to 16 months to present it.
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  And after that point, you have to be, you have to go
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  through the process again in order to be,
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  you know, uh, re-approved. Yeah.
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  - So would it be too late for this school year?
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  - No, not at all. For a - Student to
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  - Start now?
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  No. I mean, if you have a good project,
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  if you have a good idea of what's going on, if you have, uh,
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  a good support system in place of mentors
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  and things like that, you can still get a
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  good project going.
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  Um, we just should avoid things
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  that take a lot of time. Yeah.
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  - Yeah. You don't want to do a,
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  an eight month science fair project when you have
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  three or four months to go.
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  - Exactly. So, yeah.
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  - That's great. Sean, is there anything else that parents
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  or students should know about the science fair as we,
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  as we start to get into science fair season
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  and kids really digging into their data?
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  Is there anything else that you need
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  to, that they should know?
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  - Presentation is key, right?
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  Judges want to be able to listen to a very well organized,
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  well thought out oral presentation of their project.
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  And so one thing that has kind of hampered us in the past is
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  that these kids have excellent projects,
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  but the presentation is a little subpar, right?
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  Yeah. And so rehearsing your project, rehearsing
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  that presentation so that way
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  you can present the information in a very accessible way
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  to others that actually sets you above
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  a great project with a poor presentation.
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  Right. So an okay project with a very good
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  and incredible presentation usually outperforms a great
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  project with a mediocre presentation.
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  - That's wonderful. Well, Sean, thanks for all you do
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  here at ULA High School with physics
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  and biology and teaching our students.
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  And thank you so much for being willing
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  to take on the Science Fair Coordinator position.
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  'cause that's a, that's a big job. Oh, thank you very much.
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  So I appreciate that. And, uh, parents, if you are,
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  if you are interested in having your kids participate in the
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  science fair or students you wanna participate, uh,
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  first step, talk to your science teacher,
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  find them at school tomorrow
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  and ask them, Hey, what can I do
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  to be a part of the science fair?
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  Thank you for joining us on this episode
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  of Elevated Insights at TCSD podcast.
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  I'm your host, Dr. Mark Ernst,
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  and remember to be kind to one another
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  and remember to elevate yourself by elevating others.