Winter 2011 - Science Travels

January
2011
Newsletter Th e
fall
of
2010 has
been
a
remarkable
season
for
Science
Travels.
We
have
reached
an
unprecedented
number
of
youth,
visited
new
destinations
and
have
significantly
increased
our
Aboriginal
outreach!
Read
about
this
seaso n’s
achievements
and
more
in
this
newsletter! Propor%on
of
Total
Youth
Reached
In
summary… • 20 volunteers
participated
in
6 trips • 132 workshops
delivered Aboriginal
31%
• 16 high
schools,
5 grade
schools
and
4 Non‐
Native
friendship
centers
visited Aboriginal
• 2731 students
reached
in
the
f all
of
2010 69%
Volunteers Schools
and
Friendship
C enters Vashti
King Mattawa,
N ew
Liskeard,
Kirkland
Lake (ON) Chris
Mogg F.J.
McElligott
Secondary
School Tiffany
Johnson Temiskaming
District
Secondary
School Ben
Campbell Kirkland
Lake
District
Composite
School ,
École
Secondaire
Catholique
Sainte ‐ Marie Anna
Chkrebtii Timmins,
Cochrane ,
Iroquois
Falls,
South
Porcupine
(ON) Renisha
Nadarajah Timmins
High
and
Vocational
School ,
O’Gorman
High
School Ian
Thomson Timmins
Native
Friendship
Center ,
Roland
Michener
Secondary School Nadya
Nossova Iroquois
Falls
Secondary
School ,
Cochrane
High
School Kapuskasing,
Hearst,
Longlac
(ON) Sara
Rafferty École
secondaire
de
Hearst ,
Hearst
High
School Sean
Walkowiak Nimiki
Migizi
High
School ,
École
secondaire
Châtea ux
Jeunesse Andrew
Macumber Migizi
Wazisin
Elementary
School ,
Kapuskasing
High
School Natalie
Andrews Kapuskasing
Native
Friendship
Center Jan
Jablonski Kenora ,
Shoal
Lake (ON) Brandi
Milko St,
Thomas
Aquinas
High
School ,
David
Kejick
School Kristen
Timusk Urban
Aboriginal
Program Diba
Ebadi Ojibway
Heritage
School Alexis
Given
Iqaluit
(NU) Angelo
Gunanayagam École
des
Trois
Soleils ,
Iqaluit
High
School ,
Makkuttukkuvi
Youth
Center Gabriel
Potvin Sanikiluaq
(NU) Natalie
Andrews Nuiyak
School A
Record
Setting
Season Science
Travels
volunteers
reached
over
2700
students
this
fall,
an
unprecedented
number
despite
num ber
despite
a
few snow
days.
W e
visited
new
communities
in
W estern
Ontario , with a first ‐ time
visit
to
Shoal
Lake ,
and
made
return
trips
to
several
other
Northern
Ontario
com
munities,
thereby
increasing
the
nu mber
of
Aboriginal
youth
who
participated
in
our
communities,
workshops . “I
thought
the
event
was
so
much
fun,
interesting,
and
knowledgeable.
I
encourage
you
to
continue
through
Canada
with
this
event.
”
–
Student
from
Kenora
“Thank
you
for
traveling
all
the
way
up
to
Sanikiluaq
just
to
show
us
the
cool
stuff
you
guys
know.
”
–
Student
from
Sanikiluaq
Science
Travels
visit s Sanikiluaq,
Nunavut for
the
first
time! M ost
people
have never
heard
of
Sanikiluaq.
Located
in the
Belcher
Islands
in
Hudson Bay,
it
is
Nunavut’s
southernmost
southernm ost
com m unity,
but
don’t
be
fooled,
the
clim
ate
is
distinctively
arctic! There
are
no
climate
trees
on
these
windy
islands
that
are
home
to
many
wildlife
species
such
as
belugas,
arcti c
fox,
lemmings
and
polar
bears. This
remote
ham let
of
about
900
inhabitants
is
hom
e
to
Nuiyak
School where about
300
students home
between
kindergarten
and
grade
12 attend
class . Thanks
to
a
partnership
with
the Nunavut
Research
Institute ,
we
were
able
to
send
two
volunteers
to
this
com
munity.
Despite
sc hool
being
canceled
on
one
day
community.
due
to
a
blizzard,
our
volunteers
reached
every
student
in
the
school,
perform ing
10 activities
in
three
days.
The
imm unology
and
flight
activities
were
a
hit!
W hat
self ‐ respecting
teenager
doesn’t want
to
throw
paper
airplanes
in
class?
The
true
thrill
came
from
the
numerous
num erous
Chem istry
M agic
shows
where
explodi ng
film
canisters
and
slime
wow
film canisters
and
slime
wow ed
the
crowd. M any
students
are
not
aware
of
the
importanc e
of
science
education
for
the future employment
opportunities
available
in
Sanikiluaq ,
such
as
in
the
trades,
as
an
environm
ental
tech
or
a
wildlife
officer. environmental
Our
visit
was
truly
appreciated
by
the
students,
the
teaching
staff
and
the
com m unity and
we
sincerely
ho pe
to
return
to
this
wonderful
com munity . “It
was
a
very
fun
activity
to
do
while
learning
about
“flight”.
I
am
thinking
more
about
going
on
a
science
program
down
south!”
–
Student
from
Sanikiluaq
In
the
Heart of
South
America:
A
Brazilian
excursion University
of
Ottawa v olunteers
Angela
Alberga
and
Zach
Ferraro
bring
science
outreach
to
Brazil! Wh en
Angela
Alberga and
Zach
Ferraro
organized
a
conference
on
obesity
at the
Unive rsity
of
Ottawa
last
spring,
they could
not
have
foreseen the
opportunities
that
would
be
opened
to
them .
A
chance
meeting
with
a
Brazilian
researcher
resulted
in
an
invitation
as
keynote
speaker s to
the Universidade
Estadual
de
Maring á in
Paran á ,
Brazil. Angela
used
the
opportunity
to
bring
science
to
40
local
school
children. With
the
help
of
local
graduate
students
and
staff,
Angela
and
Zach conducted a
workshop
on
heart
form
and
function
at
rest
and
during
exercise.
Through
the
local
graduate
students,
the
activity
was
translated
from
English
to
Portugese
for
the
kids.
The
s tudents
compared
their
perceived
appearance
of
a
heart
to
an
anatomical
model.
Learning
the
chambers
of
the
heart,
they
then
modeled
blood
flow
through
the
heart
at
rest
and
during
exercise.
The
students
were
so
excited
about
having
Canadian
students
in
th eir
class
that
they
asked
for
autographs
at
the
end
of
the
day.
Angela
hopes
this
visit
will
inspire
the
graduate
students
in
Brazil
to
create
a
progr am
similar
to
Science
Travels to
increase
science
literacy
in
local
youth. “It
was
pretty
cool,
I
didn’t
know
science
was
this
much
fun.”
–
Student
from
Timmins
For more information or if you would like to contribute to
the next newsletter, contact Science Travels at:
Phone: 613-562-5800, ext. 2909
Fax: 613-562-5285
stravels@uottawa.ca
Science Travels is sponsored by an NSERC PromoScience grant and the following uOttawa programs:
Experiential Learning Service, Student Academic Success Services, Aboriginal Resource Centre, Au Service du
Monde, Engineers without Borders, Administration Committee, and the Faculties of Science, Engineering,
Medicine and Health Sciences.