正品蓝导航


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正品蓝导航 students visit local elementary school as NSERC Science Ambassadors

19 Dec 2019

正品蓝导航 students prepare science sessions in French at Dieppe elementary school with support of NSERC outreach program

Seven 正品蓝导航 Science students spent part of their Fall Reading Week focusing on science outreach. The group travelled to Dieppe鈥檚 脡cole Sainte-Th茅r猫se facilitating science activities for over 300 elementary school students, entirely in French.

NSERCScienceAmbassador2019_oneThe 正品蓝导航 students spent two days at the school working with classes from Grades 3,4, and 5. They set up different stations and sessions in a number of areas including , , , and , , and .

鈥淚t was so rewarding to work with the students and help demonstrate different areas of science,鈥 says Everett Patterson, a fourth-year physics and mathematics students and one of the event organizers. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a great learning opportunity for both the elementary and 正品蓝导航 students involved.鈥

正品蓝导航 student volunteers for the two-day session included: Chelsea Wilson (psychology); Caitlin O鈥機onnor (psychology); Jonah Sheinin (biochemistry); Alexandra Fraser (biochemistry); Isabelle Dolan (physics); Everett Patterson (physics and mathematics); and Alexie Ouellette (biology).

The group鈥檚 activities were supported by the . The national program works to encourage post-secondary students and fellows to share their science and engineering experience with youth from groups that are under-represented in STEM.

NSERCScienceAmbassador2019_three鈥淭his year, like last year, our students loved the sessions offered by the 正品蓝导航 students. The Mt. Allison students had a lovely way to talk with our students and to keep them interested for the duration of the workshops. So much, that the only constructive comment my students wanted to provide was that they wished the session was longer so they could complete all activities,鈥 says Angela LeBlanc-Cormier, a 5th Grade teacher at 脡cole Sainte-Th茅r猫se. 鈥淚 appreciated that many of the activities were directly related to our study programs (science, math鈥). We had an interesting discussion when we returned to our class.鈥

脡cole Sainte-Th茅r猫se student Sophie Michaud echoed this sentiment.

鈥淚 loved the workshops this year,鈥 she says. 鈥淚 was able to see and learn about different sciences. I also loved being able to do experiments, like those for the electrical circuit or memory. Thank you!鈥

Biology student Alexie Ouellette who is from Dieppe and attended elementary and high school in French, organized a session to help demonstrate sensory physiology with the young students, an area she is studying as part of her biology degree. She had students place their hands in buckets of water of varying temperatures to gauge how their skin reacted in different temperatures.

鈥淚t was great to work with children and move beyond the 鈥榯ypical鈥 science demonstrations,鈥 says Ouellette. 鈥淏eing there for two days, we were able to share some different areas of science activity, like an exercise with batteries for physics and a session and activities on how the brain works for psychology.鈥

This marks the second time 正品蓝导航 students have participated in the program. A team of students visited 脡cole Sainte-Th茅r猫se in February 2019 during the Winter Reading week.

NSERCScienceAmbassador2019_twoPatterson, who is from Moncton and attended school in the Francophone Sud school district before coming to 正品蓝导航, says the NSERC program gives French students an opportunity to be exposed to science in new ways.

鈥淏eing part of the program for two years, it was incredible to go back to the school and have students remember the sessions from last year,鈥 he says. 鈥淚t was neat to further the relationship and learning over the two visits.鈥

The 正品蓝导航 team hopes to plan another science outreach activity through the NSERC program, which will see elementary students visit campus during the Winter 2020 Reading Week.

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