BYU-Idaho Radio · INL Nuclear Science Week and Scholarship Competition
Idaho National Laboratory is celebrating Nuclear Science Week, an international celebration of nuclear science. This year, the celebrations and events have been moved to a virtual setting. There are a variety of events for people of all ages, from?fourth?graders to teachers.?
One of the goals for this event was to create hands-on activities for students through this virtual event.
“We know kids are doing so much of their core schoolwork online… we wanted to do some offline activities that they actually got to do [that is] interactive and hands-on,” said Jennifer Jackson, the K-12 education program manager at Idaho National Laboratory.
Fourth graders across eastern Idaho had the opportunity to sign up for one of the more exciting activities. The registration date has now passed. Jackson said staff involved in the program have spent the last couple of days dropping off engineering kits for this activity to classrooms for the students.
“We pair them with a couple of instructional videos and students can actually go through and do a hands-on interactive activity where they focus on our space battery program,”?Jackson said.
There is also a scholarship opportunity for students in 11th and 12th grades. The grand prize is $4,000 and the runner-up will receive $2,500.
This competition is called Bright Future in Nuclear Scholarship Competition. This is specifically for students who are planning to study nuclear science or another STEM-related field at a college level.
Students interested in the competition have until December to enter their submission. They will be given a choice of three questions or challenges about nuclear science and nuclear energy.??
“They will do some research and propose solutions, and then present that research and the solution to a panel made up of Idaho National Laboratory researchers, engineers, and that is how the winner is selected,”?Jackson said.
Students will propose their research and solutions to the panel in January.? To register for the scholarship competition, click here.
There is also a free webinar online for teachers and educators, with free curriculum resources about nuclear research to use in the classroom.??
More information about any of these activities is available at nuclearscienceweek.org.