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Students celebrate the Earth at Tru science event

It was a day to celebrate the Earth. A day to be wowed by the enthusiasm and knowledge of young students about science.
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hompson Rivers University chemistry/physics instructor Marten Lettinga

It was a day to celebrate the Earth. A day to be wowed by the enthusiasm and knowledge of young students about science. And, a day to just have fun.

In anticipation of Earth Day on April 22, the Cariboo ChilcotinConservation Society and Thompson Rivers University Williams Lake collaborated to fully engage students in an Earth Challenge on April 12 at TRU.

Students took tours, visited displays, and participated in experiments. The event ended with four teams competing in a game of water, waste, nature and air Jeopardy.

“Invitations went out to all the schools and three signed up,” said Jenny Howell of CCCS.

“We gave them a booklet titled Earth Challenge and one of the teachers even used it as part of her curriculum.”

For the jeopardy game, two four-person teams hailed from Nesika, one from Cataline and one from Chilcotin Road elementary schools.

Students were asked questions such as how many breaths the average adult takes in a day, where the city gets its drinking water from, which ecosystem the city is in, where are bighorn sheep from and how many hydrogen atoms are in a water molecule?

Roy Argue, Fish and Wildlife Manager with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, was the game show host.

He told the students he’d gone over some of the questions with his roommates the night before, and they couldn’t answer some of them.

They identified birds, insects, and specimens CCCS member Sue Hemphill showed them, they were asked to identify three reasons wetlands are important, and challenged to order household waste by weight.

A final question asked the students to identify real actions any kid could take to reduce their own ecological footprint.

In the end Nesika — Mr. Taylor’s class —  won first place with 3,050 points, a trip to Gavin Lake with a life guard.

Nesika — Ms. Gunderson’s class — won second with 2,900 points won a day at Scout Island with a ride in a voyageur canoe.

Cataline came in third with 2,150 points, winning a day at Scout Island.

Chilcotin Road came in fourth with 2,000 points, winning a tour of the Cariboo Regional District’s solid waste site.

Afterwards members of the CCCS said the event went well and was a keeper.

 

Mary Forbes said they’ve already booked TRU for next year.closer to Earth Day too.

 

 



Monica Lamb-Yorski

About the Author: Monica Lamb-Yorski

A B.C. gal, I was born in Alert Bay, raised in Nelson, graduated from the University of Winnipeg, and wrote my first-ever article for the Prince Rupert Daily News.
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