3 . 2024 Western Colorado Elementary Science Fair

EUREKA! and D51 are partnering to host our annual elementary (小学的) science fair! Here’s your chance to apply your love of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) by conducting your own scientific investigation.

Participation is open to all 3-5^th graders living in Wester Colorado, and students can either enter as an individual or as a team of no more than 3 members. Judging will be based on grade, and a team composed of students from multiple grades will be judged in the grade category of the oldest participant’s grade.

Project Submission

All participants must complete all of the following by March 7, 2024:

●Complete the registration form (one per team)

●Create a display poster (either physical or electronic) summarizing their project and email the file or a clear photo of it to the science fair committee

● Create a video presentation (less than 5 minutes) explaining their project to the judges, and submit it to the science fair committee

Public Viewing

Date: Wednesday, March 13, 2024

Location: EUREKA! McConnell Science Museum

Participants can display their posters and present their projects to the public (optional) .

Safety Regulations

It is important to wear proper protective gear (装备) when necessary in addition to disposing of (处理) waste properly when conducting a scientific investigation. We strongly recommend that guardians look up and study Safety Data Sheets for any chemicals that their students use and have responsibility for not allowing students to experiment with dangerous chemicals. EUREKA! holds the right to not display projects if they believe the components break our safety regulations.

4 . One Saturday in December, Annacarin Elf, the head of operations at Gothenburg City Library, just happened to walk by her workplace. Noticing that the door was open, she entered the library, and was astonished to see the heartwarming scene that people were using it like on a regular day.

It was scheduled to be closed for the New Year holiday. The people in the library behaved as usual. Many were sitting reading newspapers, some families were in the children's section and others were searching for books on the computer.

It seemed that Elf's colleagues had simply forgotten to lock the door, and because this popular library is usually open on Saturdays. visitors just assumed they could walk in. Elf called to check with her staff team, before announcing to the people present that the library was about to close. Then she expressed her regret for what had been done wrong and caused them a problem. It later turns out that 446 locals visited the city library borrowing a total of 246 books during the day. What's remarkable is that people checked out their books through the library's electronic self-service system, and that to date, all the books have been retuned!

Many Swedes have reacted positively to this uplifting demonstration of local respect for the library, a center that can be seen as a sign of the community, and what the locals did has strengthened their sense of belonging in their community.

Elf says, “Nothing was destroyed. It's amazing that Gothenburgers entered an empty library and treated and so lovingly.” The city leader has even suggested that this unusual Saturday serve as an accidental experiment to analyse the possibility of operating a totally automated library without staff.

6 . You are staring at a blank page 5, 000 words to go. You are well aware that your computer can write this thing for you. To use AI or not to use AI? That is the question.

The rapid development of AI tools has led many people to question their impacts on academic life. During an event to educate students about AI and academic integrity, Emily Bonano, chief justice of the All-Campus Judicial Council (ACJC), which is responsible for hearing individual cases relating to academic integrity, stressed that although AI as a common tool is a recent development, its impacts on academic honesty are already clear. “People are using it practically like any common tool,” Bonanno said. “People run into issues where they make assumptions and say ‘Oh, I’m just going to use it’ or ‘It doesn’t really matter. It’s just a little paragraph’. But it does matter.”

The Academic Honesty Policy defines academic honesty as “Acting with truthfulness and sincerity in carrying out all aspects of our individual and collaborative (合作的) work, maintaining ownership of our work and acknowledging our debt to the work of others”. The use of AI tools in completing tasks might be thought of as the breach of academic integrity if it went against this policy, Bonanno said. She explained that using AI without an instructor’s permission might be considered as receiving or using unauthorized aid under the policy.

Many instructors prohibit the use of AI in their classrooms because it runs the risk of disregarding academic integrity, but there are exceptions. Professor Whitney is teaching a course called Writing About and With Artificial Intelligence, which examines the role that AI can play in writing and involves using AI tools to better understand how to write with them. Regardless of whether an instructor allows or forbids the use of AI, its rules should be laid out clearly, Bonanno said.

7 . As a high school student, you’re likely used to learning through reading textbooks.     1     This lies at the heart of “experiential appreciation,” a philosophy that encourages you to engage directly with the world around you. It’s about learning from real-life experiences, and discovering a more profound and engaging way to learn.

To practice experiential appreciation, you can start by getting involved in hands-on activities related to your subjects. They will provide a firsthand understanding of the concepts you’re studying, making learning active and meaningful. So, try joining a sports team, picking up a paintbrush, or taking part in a local charity event.     2    

As you dive deeper, immerse (沉浸) yourself fully in the surroundings and activities. When you’re in nature, don’t just look around.     3     Touching the leaves, feeling the wind and listening to the birds can enrich your learning and make each moment more memorable.

    4     After trying something new, ask yourself what you learned and how it made you feel. Write in a journal or discuss it with friends. This self-discovery turns experiences into life lessons and offers a deeper understanding of the world.

Experiential appreciation transforms learning from a task to be completed into a journey to be treasured.     5     So, explore the world around you, let every experience shape you, and discover the endless possibilities that await. This is the core of true learning, where every moment is a step towards a richer, more enlightened life.

8 . “Anxiety.” The very word invites discomfort. Its effects—shortness of breath, pounding heart, muscle tension—are outright upsetting. But, as a clinician, I find that we tend to miss out on many valuable opportunities presented by this human emotion. In and of itself, anxiety is not deadly, nor is it a disease. Quite the contrary: it is an indicator of brain and sensory health. Once we accept that it is a normal, though uncomfortable, part of life, we can use it to help us.

We all know working out at the gym is hard. By nature, a “good workout” is uncomfortable, since it involves pushing our physical strength past what we can easily do. The sweet spot of exercise is always a somewhat challenging experience. Similarly, if you want to be emotionally stronger, you need to face some tension. For example, one effective treatment for fear is exposure therapy (疗法), which involves gradually encountering things that make one anxious, reducing fear over time.

Humans are social creatures. When my patients learn to open up to their partners about their anxieties, they almost always report a greater sense of emotional closeness. Also, as international relationship expert Sue Johnson teaches, when we express our need for connection during challenging moments (e.g., “I’m having a hard time right now and could really use your support”), it creates greater connection and turns our anxiety into love.

From time to time, we find ourselves at the end of our rope. Our responsibilities pile up, our resources break down, and we feel uncomfortably anxious—what we’re experiencing is called stress. Simply put, the demands placed upon us outweigh our available resources, just like a set of scales (天平) going out of balance. Focusing on work and pretending everything is OK only leads to disastrous results. Medical treatment for stress may function for a while, but it tends to make things worse in the long run. The only solution to deal with stress is to do the mathematics to balance the scales.