How Regional Science Fairs "Bring in the Best" to the Speech, Language and Hearing Professions
The Make Connections webpages (see links at left) were built to help you identify prospective science fairs. A critical networking step is to contact the special judge coordinator to inform him or her of your interest. To get students interested in a speech, language, hearing or swallowing project early in the process – usually the fall – they need to know that your organization will be at the fair awarding cash and prizes. If the science academy has a newsletter for science teachers in the state, prepare a flyer announcing your association's plans to attend the fair at the regional or state level to award cash and/or gifts to top projects in the area of speech science.
A sample flyer may inspire you. (The flyer and sample text are also filed under the Resources link.) Be sure to provide essentials to attract students, (example projects, amount of cash awards, types of prizes, availability of project mentors, website addresses for more information, and contact information.) A large flyer is better than a news article or clip because teachers will be able to easily post it for students to see.
An essential part of this announcement is the availability of a local speech-language pathologist or audiologist to help mentor the project. Science academy leaders believe this is critical in getting students to consider a project in speech-language pathology. Otherwise, they tend to pick projects that tap into the expertise of their parents or relatives – regardless of whether they are actually interested in the project. This mentoring provides an opportunity to introduce the student at an early age to a career in speech, language or hearing sciences. It also gives the prospect of job shadowing. Graduate students are fully capable of assisting young students with their projects and can introduce them to university life. Accordingly, graduate students in your states should be actively sought for this purpose.
Possible projects in Speech, Language and Hearing Science
- Explanation of how instruments measure voice
- Performance of hearing protectors
- Sound isolation of building materials
- Description of how sound travels around corners
- Music in the mind
- Explanation of what facial expressions babies can mimic
- Determination of whether elementary grade students comprehend instructions better with visual, aural or typed directions
- Decibel levels of various household and / or environmental noises
- Altered auditory feedback and stuttering
- Animal communication (if not words, what?)
