Newsletter Fall 2008 The Science Travels program has achieved great success as it began its third year of operation. This past fall, 21 graduate student volunteers traveled to 20 schools and Friendship Centers in Northern Ontario. From North Bay to Hearst, and to Moosonee… more than 1,600 students participated in our activities! Workshops were developed and delivered on a number of new subjects and we are beginning to receive requests for visits to high schools far west of our normal area of activity. This edition of the newsletter will update you on all of our current and upcoming activities. A brief summary… • 21 volunteers participated in 5 trips; • 12 different workshops, presented a total of 84 times in 20 different schools; • 1,694 students reached! Volunteers Schools and Friendship Centers Alexis Given, Neuroscience, uOttawa Jeremy Brammer, Biology, uOttawa Juzer Kakal, Microbiology and Immunology, uOttawa Michael Woldemichael, Earth Sciences, uOttawa Region: Moosonee, Moose Factory Northern Lights Secondary School Bishop Belleau School Moosonee Public School Delores D. Echum Composite School Moosonee Native Friendship Center Marc Chamberland, Physics, Carleton U. Melanie Langille, Biochemistry, uOttawa Jenna Rainey, Cellular and Molecular Medicine, uOttawa Jessica Monahan, Sciences, Carleton U. Region: Hearst, Smooth Rock Falls, Kapuskasing École secondaire de Hearst High School Smooth Rock Falls Secondary School École élémentaire publique Georges Vanier Kapuskasing Indian Friendship Center Simran Bhatia, Biochemistry, uOttawa Steven Horvath, Chimie, uOttawa Rui Sun, Civil Eng., uOttawa Lindsay Patrick, postdoctoral fellow, uOttawa Region: Cochrane, Iroquois Falls, South Porcupine Cochrane High School Iroquois Falls Secondary School Roland Michener Secondary School Inenew Friendship Center Maxime Rousseau, Neuroscience, uOttawa Natalie Molodecky, Microbiology and Immunology, uOttawa Justin Kicks, Biology, Carleton U. Alexandra Weirich, Biochemistry, uOttawa Region: New Liskeard, Mattawa Temiskaming District Secondary School École Secondaire Catholique Ste-Marie FJ McElligott Secondary School Laura Davis, Biochemistry, uOttawa Mareen Curtin, Biochemistry, uOttawa Kelly Patterson, Biochemistry, uOttawa Hafsa Cherid, Sciences, Carleton U. Chris Mason, Chemistry, uOttawa Region: Sudbury, North Bay West Ferris Secondary School Widdifield Secondary School Marymount Academy N’Swakamok Native Friendship Center
Transcript
Newsletter
Fall 2008
The Science Travels program has achieved great success as it began its third year of operation. This past fall, 21 graduate student volunteers traveled to 20 schools and Friendship Centers in Northern Ontario. From North Bay to Hearst, and to Moosonee… more than 1,600 students participated in our activities! Workshops were developed and delivered on a number of new subjects and we are beginning to receive requests for visits to high schools far west of our normal area of activity. This edition of the newsletter will update you on all of our current and upcoming activities. A brief summary… • 21 volunteers participated in 5 trips; • 12 different workshops, presented a total of 84 times in 20 different schools; • 1,694 students reached!
Volunteers Schools and Friendship Centers Alexis Given, Neuroscience, uOttawa Jeremy Brammer, Biology, uOttawa
Juzer Kakal, Microbiology and Immunology, uOttawa
Michael Woldemichael, Earth Sciences, uOttawa
Region: Moosonee, Moose Factory
Northern Lights Secondary School Bishop Belleau School
Moosonee Public School Delores D. Echum Composite School Moosonee Native Friendship Center
Marc Chamberland, Physics, Carleton U. Melanie Langille, Biochemistry, uOttawa
Jenna Rainey, Cellular and Molecular Medicine, uOttawa
Jessica Monahan, Sciences, Carleton U.
Region: Hearst, Smooth Rock Falls, Kapuskasing
École secondaire de Hearst High School Smooth Rock Falls Secondary School
École élémentaire publique Georges Vanier Kapuskasing Indian Friendship Center
Simran Bhatia, Biochemistry, uOttawa Steven Horvath, Chimie, uOttawa
Cochrane High School Iroquois Falls Secondary School
Roland Michener Secondary School Inenew Friendship Center
Maxime Rousseau, Neuroscience, uOttawa Natalie Molodecky, Microbiology and
Immunology, uOttawa Justin Kicks, Biology, Carleton U.
Alexandra Weirich, Biochemistry, uOttawa
Region: New Liskeard, Mattawa
Temiskaming District Secondary School École Secondaire Catholique Ste-Marie
FJ McElligott Secondary School
Laura Davis, Biochemistry, uOttawa Mareen Curtin, Biochemistry, uOttawa Kelly Patterson, Biochemistry, uOttawa
Hafsa Cherid, Sciences, Carleton U. Chris Mason, Chemistry, uOttawa
Region: Sudbury, North Bay
West Ferris Secondary School Widdifield Secondary School
Marymount Academy N’Swakamok Native Friendship Center
Workshop Development: New activities for our catalog Though our most popular activities tend to be the Chemistry Magic Show and DNA/Forensics Detectives, quite a few new activities premiered this fall. Here’s a profile of the workshops we just added to the repertoire. Geotechnical Engineering – Building a
Foundation Workshop created by Rui Sun, uOttawa A brief presentation initiates students to the world of geotechnical engineering and the principles of foundation construction: load and forces as well as soil types, stability and deformation. After taking a look at various types of foundations, the students are given a scenario and must build a foundation specific to those circumstances. With popsicle sticks and glue, they get a chance to put into practice what they just learned. What a great initiation to engineering! Food Chemistry – Making Soft Drinks Workshop created and excerpt written par Laura Davis, uOttawa I graduated from the University of Guelph’s Food Science program and have worked in the food industry for the last couple of years in Canada, Germany and Switzerland. I was looking forward to introducing high school students to this relatively small and unknown
area in the field of science, for which I have great passion. Therefore, I walked into my first classroom and announced to the students that they were going to be Food Product Developers for the day as a part of my food chemistry activity. Their task was to create an orange soda drink with the ingredients I provided. They had to ensure they had proper bubble formation and no unusual after-tastes. We then had a mock sensory panel and discussed the drinks we created.
It was interesting to see how the students would react with such scientific freedom. Some were a bit leery of how to proceed, some jumped full-on into the activity and some interestingly took a scientific approach and added small amounts of the ingredients at a time and tweaked the recipe based on the taste. The students laughed throughout the activity (due to overflowing drinks or horrible tasting concoctions) and most felt as if they were in a home economics class. However, I quickly opened their eyes to all the chemistry involved in food product development. We talked about stoichiometric equations and how each of the ingredients needs to be added in the proper ratios to get proper ‘fizziness’ and avoid any lingering after-tastes.
The Water Cycle – A Demonstration of Water Contamination Written by Michael Woldemichael, uOttawa Northern Ontario is one of the most beautiful places in Canada. Its topography, lakes, rivers and geological history makes it very unique! Moosonee and Moose factory are part of this amazing place, located on Moose River south of James Bay. Water and ice are very important entities for these communities, and so I looked forward to sharing with them my expertise on the water cycle and water contamination. For the trip, I arranged to bring with me a state-of-the-art model that illustrates surface and groundwater contamination. This model is simple to use and demonstrates how water is contaminated by day-to-day activities. The model also clarifies how water virtually flows underneath the surface. The students were easily able to link what they have been learning in theory to real life, especially since the communities in these areas rely on groundwater wells for drinking water. This new demonstration was very effective at getting the message across. The reactions from the students were very positive. A 13 year old girl in the front row exclaimed "wow!" as she understood how quickly and easily a river or a lake, or even potable water can be contaminated. After the demonstration, the students were more aware of the environment had developed more positive attitudes to protecting our environment.
Water Treatment: From the river to your kitchen sink Demonstration created and written by Chris Mason, uOttawa A complete purification of river water was performed following actual procedures used in real water treatment facilities in Canada. Students were given a sample of dirty water and attempted to discuss all relevant impurities and cautions needed during the treatment process, and then the treatment process began. First students added Al(SO4)3 (Aluminum Sulfate) to dirty water. This enables flocculation, as impurities can be removed from water and precipitate out to the bottom of the cup. Students then removed the 'flocs' and other visible impurities making use of sand filtration (and activated charcoal can be used), and discussed how the earth naturally uses sand filtration. The third and final step was disinfection. Disinfection was performed using chlorine tablets designed for camping (Sodium Dichloroisocyanurate was the actual chlorine source) to kill bacteria present in the water. Following these steps, the water is safe to drink... Cheers!
Lots of Fun!
The joy of science was spread far and wide in fall 2008. Volunteers shared with students across Ontario their knowledge about DNA, Chemistry, Climate Change, Flight, Immunology, Reproductive Technologies, Water Cycles and Treatment, Geotechnical Engineering and many other subjects. Not only did our volunteers share their expertise, but they also shared something more important with these students: their love of science. Not convinced? Take a look at these photos!
Feedback Much support and positive feedback was given following the fall 2008 visits. Congratulations and many thanks to all who participated in making these activities a success!! About our volunteers:
The educators’ favourite aspects:
Students said :
Still to come… As usual, a second round of trips will happen in the spring. Planning is already underway for trips to two new destinations: Elliot Lake and Kenora. We are also anticipating great success during Science Travels Week 2009 this May, when 24 high school students from Northern Ontario come to the University of Ottawa for a week to meet professors and student mentors, to perform lab experiments and to learn all about campus life!
“Great presenters” “Very well prepared, professional and adaptable”
“Great work, easy rapport with students”
“Having the students participate.”
“The slime! Kids got to take something home.”
“All activities were interesting and enjoyable”
“Fun and Cool! ”
“Made my day!!! ” “It was awesome, please come again! ”
“Chemistry is awesome, I really liked this!”
For more information or if you would like to contribute to the next newsletter, contact Science Travels at:
Science Travels is sponsored by the Government of Ontario and the following uOttawa programs: Let's Talk Science, Experiential Learning Service, Student Academic Success Services, Aboriginal Resource Centre, Engineers without Borders, and the Faculties of Science, Engineering, Medicine and Health Sciences.
