STEM Online Workshops – June Week -12-15

Monday, June 1st - Friday, June 26th

10 am - 10 :45 am - Grades K - 2

11:15 am- 12 pm -  Grades 3-6

Material list for the workshops can be found here.

Monday, June 1st  – Making Music with Jars.

An interactive physics workshop where we explore how sound is made! We will investigate how to change the pitch and volume of different sounds and challenge you to spot the patterns that will enable you to play a tune. How does the amount of water in the jar affect the pitch of the note? How does the size of the container affect its resonant frequency? What fraction of the jar do you need to fill the jar with water to make the note an octave higher?

Wednesday, June 3rd – Blast Off!

Join us as we explore how airplanes take off, and the extra challenges posed by taking off from different places. Why do runways have to be so long? How can we launch an airplane to the skies if we don’t have a large area to work in? How could we build something to help us with this? How is energy stored in our system? What is the effect of launching our airplane over different distances?

Friday, June 5th  – Bridging the Gap.

We challenge you to build a road bridge! Your bridge must be tall enough that a toy car can fit underneath and strong enough that a toy car can drive over the top. Your only construction materials will be paper! We will explore the different parts of a bridge and why they are needed and how strong different shapes of bridge are. How can we fold the paper to make the deck of the bridge as strong as possible? What is the function of each of the parts of your bridge? What is the maximum length your design of bridge can be? What happens if we make it too long?

Monday, June 8th – Pattern-Spotting and Making Links with Ink - Chromatography!

Join us for an interactive chemistry workshop. You may be surprised by the colors contained in your marker pens. We will explore how to separate them out and then how to use that knowledge to predict patterns and create beautiful designs. Can you predict what colors of ink are contained in each of your marker pens? Can you predict how different marks will spread out? How can you tell how many different colors of ink are contained in your markers?

Wednesday, June 10th – Hydro-Power. 

We explore the technology of waterwheels! Participants will be challenged to create their own working water wheel and explain how it works. What is the optimum angle for water to go through to turn the wheel? What are the best shapes to use on the waterwheel to make it turn smoothly? How can we create an axel so the wheel can spin freely? What could we use our waterwheel for - can we take inspiration from waterwheels through history?

Friday, June 12th – Does Your Boat Float?

An interactive workshop exploring floating, sinking and everything in between! You will be challenged to create a boat to transport units of cargo across a man-made lake. What are the rules for what objects float and what objects sink? Are there any ways we could make an object that would usually sink float across our lake? Can you predict when an object will float or sink?

Monday, June 15th – Music Outside the Box.

A celebration of music! Participants will investigate the components of string instruments and the purpose of each part, and use that knowledge to construct their own box guitar. They will investigate how to change the pitch of the notes they play and attempt to tune their guitars, while we explore the science of waves and how sound travels through the air.  How does the thickness of the elastic band change the pitch of the sound? Can you make the same elastic band make a different sound? How about two different elastic bands make the same sound?

Wednesday, June 17th – Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf? 

We explore the physics behind the story of the Three Little Pigs and the Big Bad Wolf! Is it true that houses made of stone are more easy to blow down - and more importantly, why? And how easy is it to build with each of our building materials? What shape of house makes the most stable structure - the one least likely to blow away? Is it possible to use the straw to build a good house?

Friday, June 19th – The Science of Seeing.

Join us for an interactive workshop in which we explore colors and how we see them. When is a red apple not a red apple? Let’s investigate how we see colors to find out! We will explore both luminous and non-luminous objects, the way that shadows are formed and how we can trick our eyes into seeing only what we want them to see. What patterns do you notice in how colors appear in different lights? How about through different filters? What is the effect of using multiple filters at once?

Monday, June 22nd – Let's Go Fly a Kite.

Join us for an interactive workshop in which we build and test some kites! What do you predict the best kite will be - one made of paper or plastic? Why does a kite need a tail - and what shape and weight of tail works best? Does a smaller kite fly best because it’s lighter, or does a larger kite fly better because it can catch more wind? What forces act on the kite to pull it in each direction - and can you feel them in your hands when you fly the kite?

Wednesday, June 24th – Optical Illusions.

Discover how the human eye can be tricked! How is the human eye constructed? What are its limitations? How can we exploit these to create some optical illusions? We all know that cartoons are made out of individual still frames, so why does our brain think that we’re seeing a moving picture? Can we recreate this phenomenon at home and make our own mini-movie?

Friday, June 26th – In the Balance.

Join us for an interactive workshop in which we explore balance and toppling! Participants will use their own bodies as scientific equipment to investigate the conditions for balancing, and how and when toppling will occur. We will explore the meaning of ‘centre of mass’, predict its location in regular shapes and understand the technique to find its location in non-regular objects. What is the effect of changing a shape on the location of its center of mass? What patterns can you spot in how much we can tilt an object before it topples? How can we increase the amount we can tilt it before it topples?