Guest post: Moosonee / Moose Factory 2012 Trip!

The following is a guest post written by Jan, one of two University of Guelph Let's Talk Science volunteers to visit the remote communities of Moosonee and Moose Factory in Northern Ontario! Derek and Jan, the Guelph volunteers, were joined by Jeff, a volunteer from the Science Travels program at the University of Ottawa!

     I was fortunate enough to be one of the volunteers who had the opportunity to visit Moosonee and Moose Factory to participate in the rural science outreach program of Let’s Talk Science. I was counting the days until the trip! I had no idea what to expect, but I knew that it will be one of the most fun and rewarding experiences of my life.
The flight to Moosonee was a little bit more exciting that I hoped – we encountered a lot of turbulence! Fortunately, the flight attendant of Air Creebec was excellent at easing our fears J. When we finally arrived in Moosonee, we were anxious to explore the town. One of the things that stood out for me was the gorgeous environment. The ice on Moose River was just starting to break up and this created a picturesque landscape (the photo below did not do it much justice though!). Apparently it’s very rare that the ice breaks up like this (the last time they remembered was in the 30s).

Moose River, view outside our lodge

     After getting settled in Polar Bear Lodge, which would be our home for the next week, we ventured to the town square to gather supplies for our activities the next morning.

Northern Store, our lifeline

     Our first day was jam-packed! We had a full schedule at our first destination, Moosonee Public School. We had a total of 14 activities for the students throughout the day!

Moosonee Public School

     We had two concurrent activities at once throughout the day. Derek and I started with Super Science challenge with the grades 5/6 and Jeff with DNA activity with the grade 8s. During recess, one of the students walked me around the school and showed me the posters that they made. It is really interesting to see the students express their culture in their art works.

Drawing by students from Moosonee Public School

     By the end of the day, we were all exhausted as we had performed activities with over 300 kids! They were all enthusiastic and are all eager to participate which made the entire day fun and memorable.

     On Tuesday, we went to visit Northern Lights Secondary School. This is the first time I had worked with high school kids and I had no idea what to expect and was a little bit nervous. Derek started the day by leading the presentation of the Chemistry Magic Show for the grade 10 science class. The students were really quiet and disinterested at first, but Mr. Marson, their teacher, said that they were just really shy and it was a cultural trait. It took a while for the students to open up, but by the end, the students were interactive and were asking a lot of questions. By the end of the day, especially during Jeff’s water treatment activity, everyone was enthusiastic and was willing to give group presentations. The students also had a lot of questions regarding post-secondary education. It is unfortunate to see that the number of students steeply decline higher up in the grades, so it is encouraging to see some students taking an interest in going to college or university. It is particularly difficult for students who wanted to go to universities as Northern Lights does not offer high school courses required for university admittance; the students will have to move to a different town/city, away from their families. My partners Jeff and Derek were really helpful in addressing the multitude of questions the students had regarding post-secondary education, in particular, questions about medical school admission and requirements.

Northern Lights Secondary School

     Wednesday was a particularly exciting day for us as we get to take a helicopter to Moose Factory. It was our first time being in a helicopter and we were so excited we arrived at the helipad almost an hour before we were scheduled to fly over! 

Derek excited for his first helicopter ride!

     The school that we were scheduled to visit was Moose Factory Academy of Christian Education. The school was split into 4 groups: a JK/SK, Grades 1-2, 3-4 and 4-6 class. It was a very interesting day as we were to deliver the chemistry magic show activity to all the groups throughout the day, so we had to improvise to make sure to cater to the various age groups. We started the day with the JK/SK class; Jeff decided to lead the activity for this group and also to add in the lights activity. He did an excellent job trying to simplify the activity for this age group and everyone had a great time especially when splitting white light with a prism during his lights activity. The next day, I ran into their teacher at Northern and she told me that everyone in her class was saying that white is now their new favourite colour because “it’s so cool”.

     Derek and I led the activities with the Grades 1/2. The kids were a lot more energetic so we decided to have them all sitting on the floor for more space. They were really excitable and had a lot of questions. We spent most of our time with the hands-on activity and going to each of them one by one to see if they had any questions. One activity they really liked were film canisters that were filled with vinegar and baking soda, as well as a demonstration of a non-newtonian fluid – basically a mixture of cornstarch and water.

The kids are excited with the demonstration of "non-Newtonian" fluid (cornstarch goo!)

After lunch, Jeff tackled the oldest group range, grades 4-6. He was a lot more hands-on with this age group. He even asked for volunteers to help demonstrate some of the concepts for his activities. As they classroom is also part of the chapel, there were lots of room to move around and he definitely took advantage of this!

Jeff and some volunteers during the chemistry magic show

     The last activity was led by Derek and I for the grade 3-4 class. It went pretty well, after having lots of practice with the previous age groups. At the end of the day, the school principal gave us some souvenirs from the school!

Derek performing the fireproof balloon trick

Thursday was our longest day. We had activities scheduled at two places: Bishop Belleau Catholic School and the Moosonee Native Friendship Center. Both of these were located on Moosonee, so we didn’t have to take a helicopter that day. We had numerous on-going activities at Bishop Belleau that it was the first time all three of us were split up and had to go to different classrooms and perform the activities on our own. It was a lot of fun especially since we got to every classroom and reached out to about 100 kids! We had a different activity for every classroom, so we had to bring in 2 suit cases that day. Later that afternoon, we went to the Moosonee Native Friendship Centre to perform another set of rounds of the Chemistry Magic Show. The friendship centre is a place where some of the students go for after-school supervision. We had a group of kids from various grade levels. It was fortunate that we had experience with different age groups from the day before so that we could cater each activity to appeal to all of them.

Derek and Jeff entering Bishp Belleau School

Moosonee Native Friendship Centre

     Thursday night, it snowed and the landscape drastically changed. I thought it was really beautiful. Our last school to visit was on Moose Factory – Moose Factory Ministik School, so we got to take the helicopter again.

The landscape after overnight snow

Aerial view of Moose Factory Island

Moose Factory Ministik School

     Our schedule with Moose Factory Ministik School was also packed. We had concurrent activities back to back; Jeff Derek and I had to shuffle from one activity to another. Jeff handled most of the Chemistry Magic Show activity, while Derek took over the Forces activity, and I, the playful machines. It was hectic, but it was definitely worth it as reached over 200 kids! We also had a pretty long break so one of the teachers walked me around the school and showed me some of the posters that the students have created. I was also inspired by her story of how she studied really hard to get her Master’s degree so she could go back to her community and give back. She is a firm believer that education is the only way the native community can improve itself; even though the enrolment at higher educational levels are low, with every generation, it’s improving and that’s her hope.

Posters made by the grade 4 class

     My trip to Moosonee and Moose Factory is one of the most memorable experiences in my life. I am thankful for Let’s Talk Science for giving me the opportunity to not only to help kids in far north rural communities, but also to experience first hand what it was like to stay in their town. A lot of the students that I encountered during my week in Moosonee/Moose Factory were smart – one grade 2 student in particular stood out as she can fully explain some of the chemical reactions that were happening during our chemistry magic show. I just find it unfortunate, as some of the teachers have explained, that majority of the students just are not getting the motivation they should be getting to prioritize education. However, they did state that it gets better with every generation. Students are starting to get better role-models not just at home, but from external sources as well. I hope that even just a little bit, Let’s Talk Science helped with that.