3,200 Parents and Children Enjoy Science at Laurus’s STEM Fair 2026

Original Japanese article published Sep. 7, 2026.
日本語版はこちら.

More Than Learning Science: Getting Hooked

The STEM Fair held by Laurus International School of Science is built on that strong belief about education.

STEAM Fair 2026 was held on June 13 and 14 at Laurus’s Primary & Secondary campus in Shiba, Minato City, Tokyo.

The theme was “Infinity & Beyond: Space & AI.” Companies, universities, research institutes, and Laurus students and teachers ran more than 50 booths, and about 3,200 children, from preschoolers to junior high students, and their parents attended.

What stood out while covering the event was that the fair was not simply a showcase of the latest technology.

A video from the event is also on YouTube.

What Laurus values is depth in science, hands-on experience that makes children think, and the kind of fun that makes them want to try again.

Hands-On Science That Goes Beyond Looking

The venue was lined with booths where visitors could try the latest science and technology, including VR, robots, satellites, spacesuits, deep-sea exploration, and generative AI.

Children assembled VR goggles and experienced space in 360-degree video. They also launched balloon rockets, toured a satellite factory in VR, and shook hands with the latest robots.

The point is that the equipment was not just on display. Children touched it, operated it, and tested it while thinking about why it moves, how to make it fly farther, and what it is used for in society. Each experience was designed to inspire children to ask follow-up questions.

There were also projects that crossed science and art. One used a concept spacesuit made of Nishijin brocade, a traditional textile from Kyoto, as the starting point for children to design spacesuits of their own.

At another booth, children designed outfits on miniature mannequins and used AI to turn them into fashion show videos. Here, rather than supplying answers, AI helped broaden what children could imagine and express.

Bringing Space Within Reach

In the International Space Station (ISS) simulator, visitors explored the station’s layout, astronaut life aboard, and the experiment facilities. Other booths covered marine environment research using satellite data, as well as space debris.

In a Blue Origin program, children made postcards to send to space. Because their own hand-drawn cards would travel to space on a rocket, a place that had felt out of reach became directly connected to their everyday lives.

Students Go From Learning to Passing It On

Laurus students also played an important part in running the event. Primary and secondary students served as lab assistants, explaining the steps to visiting children and keeping the activities going.

In the STEM presentations, 16 students who had won through the preliminary rounds presented the results of their research.

Each presenter chose a topic, formed a hypothesis, carried out research and experiments, and presented the results to an audience. Beyond helping out at the event, the students were putting their own learning into practice by passing it on to the public.

The Necessary Ability to Come Up with Questions in the AI Era

In the expert seminars, Kuniyoshi Mabuchi of Xinobi AI spoke about the importance of being able to come up with questions in the age of AI.

In an age when generative AI returns answers almost instantly, what matters is what you wonder about, what questions you ask, and how you verify the answers.

Masafumi Muratani, a professor at the University of Tsukuba, spoke from the perspective of the space life sciences about what makes Earth’s environment unique and the possibility of living in space. Everyday experiments and advanced research from universities and research institutes came together in one event.

Laurus has adopted this as its school mission: “Creating future innovators who change the world for the better.”

Rather than a one-off event, the STEM Fair is an educational program that connects the spirit of inquiry and scientific thinking nurtured in everyday lessons with the expertise of companies and universities, and opens them up to the public.

A Popular STEM Event for Parents and Children Alike

The depth of the content, as well as the appeal of enjoying the event together as a family, was behind the turnout of about 3,200 people. While children were absorbed in experiments and robots, the parents beside them listened closely to explanations from researchers and company staff.

There were crafts for the youngest children, while elementary and junior high students could explore satellites, AI, and environmental issues in depth. Parents could also see what an English-language learning environment and STEM education actually looked like by watching their children in action.

The fair was designed so that adults who came for their children would find it interesting too, which is why it has become popular as a STEM education event that parents and children can enjoy together.

By opening its educational resources to the public, the school gives children from outside the school a chance to encounter English, cutting-edge technology, and real inquiry. Instead of being a closed place that educates only its own students, an international school can be an educational hub that connects children with researchers, companies, universities, and the local community.

From the STEM Fair to Summer School

The experience does not end when the two days are over. Children who discover at the STEM Fair how much fun science is come away wanting to do more experiments and to learn in English, and they go on to the summer school, summer camp, and summer programs.

Laurus’s summer school offers STEAM education in English built around an inquiry topic and combining experiments, projects, and field trips. It is popular enough that the most sought-after weeks fill up early.

Encountering science, sharing the fun as parent and child, and going on to explore more deeply are designed as one connected educational experience. It is impressive how the two are linked, with the STEM Fair as the entry point to the school’s educational philosophy and the summer school as the continuation of that learning.

A Modern-Day Terakoya That Brings Out Japan’s Love of Science

Walking the venue was a reminder of how much Japanese children and their parents love science. When a robot moves, children want to know how it works, and when they launch a rocket, they want to find a way to make it fly farther.

Trace that curiosity back to its roots and you arrive in the Edo period, with its wasan, Japan’s own tradition of mathematics, along with astronomy, calendar-making, surveying, Western science learned from Dutch books, and mechanical dolls.

The inventor Hiraga Gennai restored the elekiter, a hand-cranked static electricity generator. The engineer Tanaka Hisashige completed the Myriad Year Clock, which combined astronomy, calendar science, precision mechanics, and traditional craftsmanship.

There was also a custom of dedicating sangaku, wooden tablets inscribed with math problems, at shrines and temples. Learning was practical and, at the same time, a form of intellectual play.

Of course, no one was teaching modern STEM in the terakoya, the local temple schools at the time. Still, a culture of finding questions in everyday life and working things out by hand has long been rooted in Japanese society.

In that sense, Laurus’s STEM Fair also looks like a modern-day, science-focused terakoya. Children and parents come together, run experiments, make things, fail, and try again. Experts, teachers, and older students pass on what they know to the younger children.

All-In Science Education Rarely Seen Worldwide

More and more international schools around the world promote STEM or STEAM. But almost none put science at the front of the whole school’s concept and carry it through from early childhood to secondary the way Laurus does.

At Laurus, STEM is not just a slogan. Curiosity about science ties together the educational philosophy, everyday lessons, student research, partnerships with companies and universities, the public STEM Fair, and the summer school.

This thorough, all-in approach is what makes Laurus interesting, and it is also its strength. The school joins international education with Japanese society’s deep-rooted interest in science and in making things. The result is one continuous educational experience, from classroom lessons to public events to summer inquiry.

It is fine if all a child takes away at first is that it was fun. If that grows into “I wonder why,” “I want to know more,” or “I want to make one myself,” the learning then continues after the event is over.

Laurus’s STEM Fair is a modern-day, science-focused terakoya that has emerged between the school and society, and it has become a place of learning that draws whole families into the fun of science.