Students of all ages will be able to explore science, technology, engineering, art, and math projects in an educational maker space, and have fun with a wide range of hands-on exhibits at the San Joaquin County STEAM Fair & Expo at the San Joaquin County Office of Education (SJCOE) on Saturday, Feb. 7.

The county’s Office of Education is at 2707 Transworld Drive in Stockton.

The STEAM Expo family event is free and open to the public from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. It is a recent and growing addition to the science and engineering competition that has been held in the county for decades.

For this year’s STEAM Fair, approximately 550 students from 38 schools will compete. Approximately 360 projects are submitted, and all students entering the fair have the potential to earn medals and a portion of monetary prizes. Awards are determined by the judges’ evaluations of the projects following student interviews. The event is organized by the SJCOE STEM, Workforce Development, and Innovation department and sponsored by Synopsys Outreach Foundation, Central Valley Mother Lode Regional Consortium, and the SJCOE Educational Foundation.

The STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) Fair is open to all K-12 students in the county and is a qualifying fair for the California Science & Engineering Fair. Students compete in traditional science and engineering projects and “showcase projects,” such as science fiction writing and Rube Goldberg machines.

This is a family-friendly science festival where students of all ages can engineer, explore, and learn through hands-on exhibits and activities.

Expo hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Wentworth Education Center at the county Office of Education. Awards ceremonies are scheduled in the afternoon, with the sixth grade through 12th grade awards from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. in the North Gym; the kindergarten through fifth grade awards ceremony in the North Gym from 4:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.

For more information, visit www.sjcoe.org.