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Outreach sites team up for science fair activities

April 16, 2013

On April 10^th Let’s Talk Science Outreach volunteers from the University of Guelph and Western University joined up on the Chi Cheemaun Ferry in Owen Sound, ON to deliver a variety of hands-on activities to over 150 participants of the Bluewater Regional Science and Technology Fair  .

This is the second year the two outreach sites have worked together to bring activities to the fair. “…we all had a great time working together. It was nice to meet graduate students from another school that were as passionate about Science and Let’s Talk Science as we are,” says Roman Kondra, Let’s Talk Science Outreach volunteer at the University of Guelph.

The Guelph volunteers set up a number of experiments which demonstrated static electricity and circuits. The students compared a potato battery and a lemon battery to see which was more conductive. They also compared the conductivity of a cucumber versus a pickle.

“The kids and their parents loved it. At times the parents were just as enthused if not more so than the children”, says Kondra, “[the activities] worked well in tandem with the fair, as the kids were in ‘science mode’ having just come from the fair with lots of interesting and stimulating projects. They liked that we could recharge our pickle battery by placing it back in the pickle juice”.

The team from Western University lead a DNA activity where the students extracted the DNA from a banana. “The DNA extraction was well received by all”, says Sommer Foster, Let’s Talk Science Outreach volunteer at Western University, “…they were so amazed at the gooey and gummy DNA they had just extracted from the banana”.

The Western volunteers made a few stops along their way to Owen Sound, visiting students at Ripley-Huron Community School in Ripley, ON and Spruce Ridge Community School in Durham, ON. They engaged the students in marshmallow structure building, DNA extraction, and crime scene investigation.

“The reaction towards the marshmallow building exercise was immediately positive - what kid does not like marshmallows?”, says Foster of the grade 1-2 classroom visit at Spruce Ridge, “…and when it was time to leave, [Let’s Talk Science Outreach volunteer] Everett Hanna yelled out to the class: ‘Everyone hug Sommer!!’ All the children came running up and gave me a group hug”.

A big thanks to all the volunteers who took part in this outreach trip:

Let’s Talk Science Outreach at the University of Guelph : Roman Kondra, Matt Platt, Katie Bissonette, Marshall Lindner, Larry Chen, Erin Cleary and Heying Hao

Let’s Talk Science Outreach at Western University: Sommer Foster, Ivan Lee, Chris Austin and Everett Hanna

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Outreach highlights in Southern Ontario

The past 6 months have been busy in Southern Ontario! Here are a few examples of what our outreach sites are up to.

How wet is our Planet?, Minden

In October, Let’s Talk Science Outreach volunteers from Fleming College lead outreach activities at the Haliburton-Muskoka-Kawartha Children's Water Festival. The volunteers had an interactive activity to demonstrate just how little fresh water is available on our planet, and how important it is to conserve water and keep it clean from pollution. Over 900 kids and their families participated in the event!

Having fun with the Canadian Food Guide at the Royal Winter Fair, Toronto

From November 6 to 7, Let’s Talk Science Outreach volunteers from the University of Toronto St. George campus were at the Royal Winter Fair at Exhibition Place in Toronto to deliver stage presentations on nutrition and food sciences.

Kids ages 8 to 12 learned about the Canadian Food Guide, food groups and serving sizes through an interactive ball tossing game. Engaging science demonstrations showed the kids how much sugar, fat and sodium content is in the foods they eat, and a trivia game taught them about vitamin and mineral content in foods.

“The children got very excited as the presentation progressed! …Overall it was a great success and children were able to take Canada Food Guides and [Let’s Talk Science] pencils home with them which they loved!”, says Ashleigh Wiggins, one of nine volunteers involved in these activities.

These presentations were done in partnership with the Department of Nutritional Sciences Graduate Students Association at the University of Toronto.

Winterfest, Cornwall

On February 23 and 24, Let’s Talk Science had a booth set up at Cornwall Winterfest as well as a stage show of engaging science demos! A few lucky kids and their parents had the opportunity to participate in a Catapulting Birds Competition on stage and make elephant’s toothpaste! At the booth the kids were busy making DNA strands out of candy and testing various materials to see which were magnetic.

Solving Crime with DNA, Toronto

In February, Let’s Talk Science Outreach volunteers from the University of Toronto St. George campusvisited Grade 7 and 8 students at the First Nations School of Toronto.

“As a class, we used DNA electrophoresis to place the ’Pink Haired Bandit’ at a robbery crime scene”, says Tom Curry, Let’s Talk Science Outreach volunteer. “Students analyzed the DNA of pink hairs found at the crime scene and discovered a likely match with our suspect! The students found this activity very engaging and enjoyed being ‘Science Superheroes’ – fighting crime with a pipette”.

Science Outreach at the Mall, London & Oshawa

In February and March, Let’s Talk Science Outreach staff and volunteers from Western University and University of Ontario Institute of Technology coordinated outreach events at the mall. Kids and their parents stopped by throughout the day to try a variety of hands-on activities and to learn more about Let’s Talk Science’s programs. Activities included making Gak, examining their fingerprints, the science of sound, and super science challenges! Families were also able to take home an activity sheet with instructions on how to make a snow globe demonstrating the properties of oil and water.

March Break Activities, Scarborough

On March 12, Let’s Talk Science Outreach volunteers from the University of Toronto, Scarborough campus partnered with the East Scarborough Storefront and the Scarborough Centre for Child and Family Services for some March Break Fun!

Children aged 7 to 11 explored cool hands-on science activities with our Let’s Talk Science Outreach volunteers. These activities included making lava lamps, shooting off Alka-seltzer rockets, making Slime, and playing Catapulting Birds!

The youth and volunteers that participated had a great time! They loved making Slime, even making it in a number of colours and keeping it. Let’s Talk Science Outreach volunteers will return for summer camp events, and all of the children and volunteers are looking forward to it!

Support for Let’s Talk Science Outreach in southern Ontario is provided in part by the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario. For more information, visit our supporters page.

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StemCellTalks Toronto 2013!

March 22, 2013

On March 8th, 130 Grade 11 and 12 students from the Toronto area participated in StemCellTalks Toronto 2013!

StemCellTalks, in partnership with the Stem Cell Network, is a national full-day symposium for senior high school students that features the science and ethics behind stem cells. The theme of this year’s event was Hematopoietic (blood forming) stem cells for treating leukaemia and umbilical cord blood banking.

In the morning, the students participated in a session that covered the biology behind stem cells. The students then listened to an engaging debate between world-leading stem cell experts relating to the type of stem cells that should be used to treat leukaemia. The speakers included Profs. Peter Zandstra, Penney Gilbert, and Dr. Peter Tonge as well as clinicians Dr. Armand Keating and Dr. Ronan Foley. The students then had the opportunity to discuss what they had heard and then voted on which side of the debate they agreed with.

In the afternoon, the session focused on the ethics of stem cell research, specifically public vs. private umbilical cord blood banking. Following an introductory lecture by world-renowned bioethicist Dr. Shane Green as well as short talks by Sue Mueller from Insception Biosciences and Sue Smith from OneMatch Stem Cell and Marrow Network at the Canadian Blood Services, the students were able to discuss their opinions on the subject. This was followed by a panel discussion, directed by Dr. Green, with panellists including Dr. Allison Brown (Director of Commercialization, Centre for Commercialization of Regenerative Medicine), Dr. Mark Minden (clinician/scientist in the University Health Network), Dr. Sue Mueller, and Sue Smith.

The students that participated in the event were very excited, and were motivated to line up and ask questions to the experts! We had a twitter feed as well for the event and it was very successful! The day was full of digital discussion, great talks, great science, and lots of fun!