Science World British Columbia is being brought to the Cariboo next week via the Science World On The Road Show, in Williams Lake on Sept 30 to Oct. 4.
In addition to the lakecity Science World is bringing its unique and entertaining science shows to Tatla Lake, Anahim Lake, Chilanko Forks, Hanceville and Alkali Lake. Thanks to their presenting partner, Engineers and Geoscientists BC, Science World’s On The Road team will be visiting these six Cariboo communities from September 30 to October 4.
They’ll be starting in the lakecity on Monday with Nesika Elementary, before heading out to Tatla Lake Elementary and Anahim Lake Elem-Jr Secondary on Tuesday, Tsi Deldel School and Tl’etinqox School on Wednesday, Dog Creek Elementary School and Sxoxomic Community School on Thursday before returning to Williams Lake on Friday for presentations at Cataline Elementary and Maranatha Christian School.
Stefano Giulianetti is the manager of the On The Road Program and is incredibly excited to finally be bringing the show to the Cariboo. The entire purpose of the project is to ensure that students outside of the Lower Mainland get a chance to be exposed to science and Science World as a whole. Over the last five years, he and his team have visited over 40,000 students a year from across the province putting on fun 45-minute long science shows, all free of charge.
Giulianetti sees the show as a great way to feed the love for science in students who enjoy it while demystifying it for those who might not understand or even be afraid of parts of it. By keeping them fun and interactive, he said is really offers them a different approach to learning they don’t usually get to experience on a day to day basis. Regular classroom learning, Giulianetti added, is still very important.
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They have three versions of the show, each tailored to school size and age, but all involve audience participation when predicting the outcome of their experiments. For smaller schools they do a show called ‘Fantastic Forces’ for Grades K to 7 that demonstrates various scientific forces, including friction, push, pull and drag and other forces that affect them on a daily basis.
When doing a Grade K to 3 show they do an experiment based show that teaches them the scientific process and allows them to observe, predict and discuss outcomes of simple experiments using props like a hovercraft, Giulianetti said.
For Grades 4 to 7, who have some science under their belt, they do a show themed around the weather and let the students challenge them to recreate weather phenomena. Due to recent wildfires, he said they’ve added a fire tornado to their list of demonstrable weather phenomena.
For Giulianetti the best part of these presentations is watching the ‘wow factor’ on children’s faces when an experiment goes differently than they expected.
“I feel like all the students across the province get a little bit of something different out of it. What we bring is relatively consistent around the province and when possible we try to mention a lot of the local factors,” Giulianetti said. “For example, we’re very aware that over the last several summers we’ve had a lot of difficulty with forest fires, so… it’s valuable to understand (them) so we’re safe around fire.”
While they may leave students with resources and skills to continue their pursuit of science, Giulianetti said the team also brings back perspectives and ideas from each school they visit as it allows them to tailor programs at Science World to be less Vancouver-centric and more representative of all of B.C.
“It’s super important to keep all of those kids learning because they are our future and if they have the tools and excitement about science, we’ll have students who will fill the jobs of tomorrow that don’t even exist yet,” Giulianetti said.
“We are thrilled to be visiting schools in Williams Lake and five other Cariboo communities,” Jo-Ann Coggan, Director of Community Outreach for Science World, said. “It’s a chance to ignite wonder and empower dreams in students, and illustrate that science is for everyone.”
This is year five of the invigorated On The Road program. Over their 22 weeks of touring, the team plans to visit the schools, all across the province, that they haven’t reached during the previous four years.