Early Education Opportunities

ORNL’s K-12 education programs help foster an early interest in science by providing scholarly competitions, summer education workshops, science camps, and various research participation opportunities. All of the programs involving students under the age of 18 have been moved to the K-12 Education Programs. The K-12 programs at ORNL include the following:

Traveling Science Fair

Experience science at a whole new level as Oak Ridge National Laboratory brings STEM to students through the Traveling Science Fair! The ORNL Science Fair invites guests of all ages to learn more about science and the importance of the ORNL research directly from scientists as they tour carnival-style, interactive mobile exhibits that describe various fields of research and areas of future career opportunities.

Find out more at https://travelingsciencefair.ornl.gov/.

Scientist in the Classroom

ORNL is excited to offer Kindergarten-12th grade student groups the opportunity to learn from our scientific research staff through virtual or in-person classroom visits. Virtual visits are conducted on Zoom or other teleconferencing platforms and allow students to participate on individual devices or as a whole group. Topics include: biology, plant science, a day in the life of a scientist, supercomputing, AI, machine learning, astrophysics, astronomy, nuclear science, robotics, engineering, chemistry, physics, 3D printing, and energy storage. 

Presentations can be tailored to your class’ area of study.  If you’d like a scientist to visit your classroom, virtually, please fill out the request form