September 29, 2017 · 0 Comments
By Brian Lockhart
Playing a piano tune with bananas as a keyboard and seeing a foaming eruption when chemicals are mixed were just a couple of examples of how kids where learning some basic principles of science at the Every Day Science Mania, held at the Orangeville Public Library last Saturday, September 23.
Staff and students from the University of Waterloo brought their scientific know-how to the library along with some very clever hands-on experiments to teach kids how basic science leads to bigger and better things when you take those ideas to a higher level.
“This program is a part of science literacy week which is a national program,” explained Caity Dyck, outreach coordinator for the engineering outreach program at the university. “Engineering Science Quest is the organization that is running it in collaboration with the library today. We run science camps here in the summer as well as workshops in the schools. It’s getting kids involved in activities and showing them that it’s not just textbook learning but that science, technology, engineering and math is engaging fun.”
The kids could go from one demonstration to the next and learn something different at each station.
From learning how to produce clean water to seeing how a banana will conduct electricity, each demonstration was a combination of fun and educational.
“Everything here is something you engage with on a fairly regular basis. The youth of today are going to be in a very different world. They can’t just be consumers of science, engineering, and technology any more. It’s becoming the heart of everything they do. It’s important that they have a clear understanding of science and technology and what is going on,” Ms. Dyck said.
All the students on hand from the University were engineering students and explained to the kids how each experiment worked, why it worked, and the scientific principle behind it.
While not every child who enjoyed the experiments will grow up to work in the field of science, they all will benefit from understanding the world around them and how it works.