Workshops
We visit classrooms and homeschool groups from preschool to high school with curriculum-aligned Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) activities. Normally, our volunteers come in for a class period to do a hands-on/minds-on activity with your students, and we would run larger events bringing students onto campus for a full-day event.
Due to ongoing public health concerns, we have been offering virtual outreach. This year, we are beginning to offer a subset of hands-on activities in person. However, we continue to offer a few virtual options below for our Kindergarten to Grade 12 educators.
We also run classroom partnerships, where we connect your class with a volunteer(s) who will visit multiple times throughout the school year and explore the different science units with you.
If the kit you hoped to request for an in-person visit is not on the list, please get in touch with us. We may be able to accommodate a visit, given sufficient notice (about a month).
About Virtual Workshops:
- We can provide a list of easily accessible consumable materials and facilitate a live workshop through an online platform (e.g. Zoom, Microsoft Teams, etc.). We may supply these consumable materials if needed.
- We can provide a list of easily accessible consumable materials and include a written description of the activity for the teacher to carry out along with a static video. We may supply these consumable materials if needed.
- We can also provide activities to educators for students who are at home by providing a static video of an activity using simple materials found at home.
- For those educators who have students at home without internet who are not attending school, we have some options that we would be happy to discuss.
We are open to other variations of the above to give the best experience possible. As always, we work in partnership with educators and the educator will need to be in the ‘room’/virtual space while activities are happening.
Workshop Listing
| Name | Grades | Duration | Subjects | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Classic Egg Drop | Kindergarten, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 | 1-2 hours | Physics | This workshop prompts students to use their creativity and imagination to create a structure from limited materials that will keep an egg safe from a drop! |
| Matter Matters | Kindergarten, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, Preschool | 1-2 hours | Chemistry | Students explore the properties and interactions of solid and liquid materials through demonstrations and hands-on activities. |
| Budding Biologist | 1, 2, 3 | 1-2 hours | Biology | An introduction to the requirements for life, adaptations, habitats, and conservation. |
| Media Literacy: Recognizing and Acting on Misinformation | 1, 2, 3, 4 | 1-2 hours | Information Technology/Computer Science | Thiis workshop includes fundamental lessons to introduce the topic of media literacy and navigating through misinformation throuughout all internet platforms. It includes discussions regarding elements of misinformation and reasons behind why they occur. |
| Tallest Towers | 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 | 1-2 hours | Physics | Students are required to carefully construct a tower made of spaghetti sticks, string and masking tape to hold up a marshmallow. The group that creates the tallest tower wins! Explores questions regarding structure, and how to support a load. |
| Bridges | 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 | 1-2 hours | Physics, Engineering | Students build a bridge using different materials to span a 45 cm distance. Strong and stable structures are discussed in the introduction. Bridges are tested for strength using books or some other weight. (note there is a Grade 3, 5 and 7 version of this all with different focus and introductions) |
| Are You Ex-Static? | 4, 5, 6 | 1-2 hours | Physics | Students learn about the difference between current and static electricity. They specifically focus on how static electricity works by conducting hands-on activities that involve investigating the types of objects a charged balloon attracts and why. |
| Bright Lights, Big Science | 4, 5, 6 | 1-2 hours | Students will learn about light, and how reflection and refraction work! They will identify items that are transparent, translucent and opaque. They will explore reflection by creating their own kaleidoscope! Students will also explore refraction through a demonstration, and explore shadows. | |
| Crime Lab | 4, 5, 6 | 1-2 hours | Chemistry | Students solve a crime investigation using chemical analysis and by exploring density and fingerprinting. They learn about forensic science and the types of evidence that are examined in a crime scene. |
| Flight | 4, 5, 6 | 1-2 hours | Physics | Students are introduced to the 4 forces of flight by building a simple plane and testing it for the forces of flight and the angle of attack. |
| Let's Talk Plants | 4, 5, 6 | 1-2 hours | Earth & Environmental Sciences, Biology | Students do an ‘artwork’ to learn the parts plants and their function; an exploration of diversity of common food crops; and a role play game on the importance of planting many varieties of crops. |
| Let’s Eat! Ecosystem Energy & Flow | 4, 5, 6 | 1-2 hours | Biology, Earth & Environmental Sciences | This workshop includes fundamental lessons about ecosystems and energy flow through trophic levels within a food web. This workshop is designed to emphasize themes within the ecosystem module using digital literacy technologies (I.e., Ozobots). |
| Solving the Puzzle Under the Sea | 4, 5, 6 | 1-2 hours | Other | This workshop includes fundamental lessons to introduce the topic of cartography and topographic maps. It includes discussions of plate tectonics, the scientific method, and inclusivity. |
| Exploration Mars | 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 | 1-2 hours | Physics, Engineering, Astronomy and Space Science | In this workshop, students will learn about and experience the challenges of Space Exploration using un-manned space probes, with specific focus on exploring Mars. Students will learn about the different types of space probes: Orbiters, Landers, and Rovers and how each spacecraft explores space. They will learn about scientists who work at the Canadian Space Agency and act as an agent of the CSA themselves as they build their own model of a Lander or Rover! |
| Let's Talk Emotional Communication | 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 | 1-2 hours | Psychology | This workshop includes fundamental lessons to introduce the topic of research in psychology and learn about emotional communication. It includes discussions about child and adolescent development, and explores these topics through research questions, the formulation of hypotheses, and collaborating with other students to arrive at conclusions about their various inquiries. Throughout the workshop, youth will learn about the various ways in which we communicate our emotions nonverbally, such as facial expressions and tone of voice. |
| Let's Talk Media Literacy | 5, 6, 7, 8 | Less than 1 hour | Education, Information Technology/Computer Science | This workshop includes fundamental lessons to introduce the topic of media literacy, specifically fake news and spoof websites. It includes discussions of how to spot a spoof website and common fake images to boost media literacy in students. |
| Let’s Talk Circulation Science | 5, 6, 7, 8 | 1-2 hours | Biology | This workshop includes fundamental lessons to introduce the topic of systemic circulation and the function of the cardiovascular system. It includes discussions of blood vessels and a brief introduction to the mechanics of circulation, specifically flow speed using Ozobots. |
| Solving the Puzzle Under the Sea | 6, 7, 8 | 1-2 hours | Earth & Environmental Sciences | This workshop includes fundamental lessons to introduce the topic of cartography and topographic maps. It includes discussions of plate tectonics, the scientific method, and inclusivity in academia. |
| Pure Substances and Mixtures | 7 | 1-2 hours | Chemistry | Students make a lava lamp using Alka Seltzer, food colouring and cooking oil, and simple paper chromatography to separate mixtures. |