Student Showcase of Learning

Jennifer Rossi shared with me after the May 23rd, 2007 meeting an idea about hosting a Student Learning Fair like Science Fair or Speech Meet.
 
I love the idea and have started the creative juices flowing in my own mind.  The questions I have for you:  
    What would it look like?
    Who does it benefit?
    When should we host it?
    What categories should we have?
    How do you select a winner?
 
Here are some of my initial thoughts:
    We could host it at SFU Surrey campus in one or two of the labs.  
 
    The event would be for students much like Science Fair and Speech Meet.  Students could work in their classes on projects and representatives be selected to represent the school.  I say representatives because many projects are class projects or class learning and selecting a ‘best’ doesn’t really get at the learning.
    I realize that the event could easily lose focus on student learning.  We would need to make sure that students get a chance to see what other students are doing and share their ideas at the event and with their class when they return.
 
    I think it could be hosted in the first week of May.  There would have been lots of learning during the year and any project throughout the year could be chosen.
 
    Categories is kind of a leading question.  I would want to use the IML capacities.  The event should be about learning not about the best product.   Having categories would just help to identify how teachers could use the ideas back in their own classrooms.
 
    Selecting a winner is a trick question.  I don’t believe we need to select a winner.  I can see we would have entries in various categories and perhaps provide participation awards / recognition.  I am not sure that you can select winners when we are talking about learning.  I see it more as a celebration style event.  The part of Science Fair I like is having the judges talk to the students and have them explain their learning.  Ribbons are secondary to those conversations.
 
I invite your thoughts.....
If you are interested in helping, please let me know.
 
The more I think about it the better it sounds.  Maybe part would be sharing in a large group and part in ‘poster sessions’ where 30 presentations would be going on at the same time in a large room.