Outreach

For our third week on the road, the team brought biology activities to the day camps. We helped students learn about the parts of an insect, how to use a microscope, and how to properly catch insects. We discussed how insects interact with nature, how we are all connected with nature and organisms within it, and how insects are not here to hurt humans. We encouraged having fun and learning in nature while respecting the earth and not being scared!

For our second week on the road we explored the concepts of flight by testing two different styles of rockets- a slingshot rocket and a water bottle rocket.  We taught the students about the importance of motion used in the rockets, as well as drag and weight components of the provided materials. We talked about the applications of rockets and how they are used today for satellites and space exploration. We also discussed aerospace engineering and other types of jobs that revolve around flight.

Hello from our first week on the road! We are exploring the concepts of renewable energy in the form of wind power.  We built the base of a wind turbine and inserted a small hobby motor and wired it up to a multi-meter to get an electrical output. The day campers were tasked with designing and testing their own prop and wind turbines.

Our summer day camp outreach program provides science enrichment to existing day camps within First Nations and urban Aboriginal communities. Each week, we will travel out to these camps with different and exciting programming!  Here are our partners for 2016, and the distance from Kingston they are located:

Kahnawake (Our Gang Summer Day Camp) 289 Km

Hi everyone! I'm Jen General and this is my second year working with AAE Summer Outreach. I'm so excited to be getting out and doing more hands-on workshops this summer! I graduated from Ottawa U in 2015 and now I'm a student at Seneca College studying Behavioural Science. Because I like travelling and meeting new students, I am excited to be visiting so many day camps this year and promting how science can be a lot of fun!

Melanie Howard and Justin Gordanier are the full-time staff of Aboriginal Access to Engineering.  

Welcome to Aboriginal Access to Engineering's Summer Day Camp Outreach Program Blog! The summer of 2016 is the first year that we will be travelling to various Aboriginal communities and partnering with their day camps to establish an ongoing relationship and work together to provide educational, engaging and fun STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) workshops. We are currently partnered with eight summer day camps in six different locations all spanning a 250 km travel radius from Kingston.

Hi it’s Melanie, back from the latest AAE roadtrip. What a beautiful day for a gathering!  Sunshine greeted the large crowd out for the Annual Native Child and Family Services of Toronto Pow Wow, held in Dufferin Park this past weekend.  A number of dancers and drummers were on hand, with some stunning handworked regalia to be seen. 

She:kon, it's Melanie, checking in after my road trip to Curve Lake Pow-Wow.  I've always wanted to attend this event, but being a later September pow-wow it's always been difficult to schedule - 2015 was our year though!  Partnering with Stephanie Landers from the Ontario Waterpower Association, we headed out to Curve Lake to set up at their beautiful waterfront pow-wow.

Hello again, from Jenn and Nicole!