Featured Volunteer - Kaity

Kaity is a star volunteer who began volunteering with Let's Talk Science at the start of the 2010-2011 school year! She has participated in a huge number of different activities, including helping out with lots of activities at a local elementary school, participating in College Royal, and, most recently, performing hands-on activities with over 200 kids on a ferry in Owen Sound!

Q. What are you studying and what have you studied in the past?

A. I attended UoG for my undergrad with a major in Human Kinetics and a minor in Psychology. I am currently doing my coursework Masters in the Department of Human Health and Nutritional Science. Our lab studies different aspects of nutrigenomics. I have focused on relating specific genes to enzyme activity levels and associating these traits with inflammation and fatty acid synthesis. The long-term goal for parts of nutrigenomics would be to create personalized dietary plans for individuals, according to their genetic makeup.

Q. Why did you become a Let's Talk Science volunteer?

A. I love working with children and helping to create a love for science and a desire to to learn. Working with children is a very rewarding experience, I learn with them and I hope that they can learn something from me! In the future I would like to teach and each opportunity leaves me with new information about how I can improve and create a better presentation in the future.

Q. What has been your favourite part of volunteering (or what is the best activity that you've done so far)?

A. My favourite part about volunteering is being able to watch the kids use their imagination and creativity during hands on activities. Their ideas always amaze me and I am always very excited to see the end result :) I am looking forward to the opportunity to participate in more fun activities with Let’s Talk Science!

Rural outreach in Dublin, Ontario AND a major milestone!

Dublin, Ontario is a small town about 90 minutes away from Guelph.  A team of four volunteers braved early morning traffic and snowy roads to visit the grade 1 and 2 students at St. Patrick's to show them how much fun science can be!

The grade 2's learned how the familiar structures in a playground - slides, merry-go-rounds, and teeter-totters - are really simple machines! They built playground models to show off to their friends and families! The grade 1's learned about structures, and tested whether a suspension bridge was stronger than one without support wires (dental floss!). Then they built geodisic domes using only newspaper!

The kids and the volunteers all had a blast, as evidenced by the photos passed along by the teacher!

Nicole showing how a playground is really a collection of simple machines.

The dedicated volunteers - Sonya, Jan, Mary, and Nicole.

What makes this trip even more special is that, when we tallied up the number of youth reached in this visit, we realized that we had hit a milestone... we have now reached our goal for number of youth reached in the 2010-2011 school year! That's right: as of today, Let's Talk Science in Guelph has reached over 1,500 kids!! This amazing feat would not have been possible without the sincere dedication of volunteers like Mary, Sonya, Nicole, and Jan, as well as the enthusiasm of our community and educator partners!

Guelph Let's Talk Science hanging out with Stephen Harper!!

Yup, that incredible title is true: on Friday, March 11th a team of LTS volunteers from the U of G and UWaterloo visited St. Ignatius school here in Guelph for a normal, run of the mill roller coaster engineering challenge with the grade 6's that culminated in PRIME MINISTER STEPHEN HARPER dropping by to test out the kids' fantastic designs. No big deal. That's just how we roll here in Guelph.

This activity was followed by an incredible announcement: the PM has dedicated $2,000,000 across 4 years to Let's Talk Science in Southern Ontario through Fed-Dev Ontario's Youth STEM program!!!! How ridiculously fantastic is that?!?!?

This incredible announcement was front page news here in Guelph, and it was also covered by several national news sources and at the PM's own website.  Plenty of photos are coming soon so stay tuned!

News articles about the announcement and the PM's visit:

• The Prime Minister's website
• The Guelph Mercury
• CTV News

Edit:  Photos after the jump!  To see all of the high-res photos, check out our picasa album!

Mr. Landoni's amazing grade 6's.. with a special guest!

Let's Talk Science at College Royal!

College Royal is a huge open house that is held each year at the University of Guelph.  There are 12 days of activities, lectures, and friendly competitions for students and the community, and it culminates in a weekend-long open house where clubs and organizations at the university present booths and activities to show the community what we're all about!

This year, for the first time ever, Let's Talk Science will be running activities all weekend long at College Royal!! Come find us in MacKinnon 228, where we will be running hands-on activities for kids of all ages on a rotating schedule all weekend long! Our schedule is:


Saturday:
9:30–10:30 am: Super Science Challenges AND Feast for the Senses
11 am – 12:30 pm: Guts AND Crime Scene
1:30 pm – 2:30 pm: Super Science Challenges AND Feast for the Senses
3–4 pm: Guts AND Crime Scene

Sunday:
10:30–11:30 am: Super Science Challenges AND Feast for the Senses
12:30–2 pm: Guts AND Crime Scene
2:30–3:30 pm: Super Science Challenges AND Feast for the Senses



Super Science Challenges and Crime Scene activities are aimed at ages 8–14, and Feast for the Senses  and Guts are aimed at ages 4–7.


Check out the main College Royal website at www.collegeroyal.uoguelph.ca to see all of the other fun, family-friendly, hands-on activities that will be going on - and make sure to stop by and visit us, too!

Featured Volunteer - Derek

Derek is a fantastic Let's Talk Science volunteer who has been active at the Guelph site since 2009. This year he has worked extensively with the Guelph Home-School Science Co-op and wowed them with demonstrations about chemistry, matter, and structures!

 

Q. What are you studying now and what have you studied in the past? 

A. I did my undergraduate degree at Dartmouth College, majoring in engineering and biology. I'm currently working on my Ph.D. in the Department of Animal and Poultry Science. My advisor is Dr. Julang Li and my project looks at the initiation of meiosis in soon-to-be germ cells. We're hoping to use that knowledge to improve artificial systems for reproductive technologies, such as in animal production. 

 

Q. Why did you become a Let's Talk Science volunteer?

A.  I've always enjoyed teaching and working with elementary-aged kids. I remember how much fun science was back in grade-school (not that it's not as fun now) and this seemed like a really great way to inspire kids to get fascinated about something that fascinates me. 

 

Q. What has been your favourite part of volunteering (or what is the best activity that you've done so far)?

A. Probably my favourite thing is seeing how excited everyone is when they see me coming back. That means I must be doing something right. And being able to do experiments that I (mostly) know are going to work out the way I'm expecting!