Science Rendezvous 2023 | Queen’s University Gazette

Households across Southeastern Ontario and unique guests joined Science Rendezvous Kingston on Might 13.

• 

  From left to proper: Nancy Ross (Vice-Principal Investigation, Queen’s University), Arthur McDonald (Professor Emeritus, Queen’s University), Bryan Paterson (Mayor, City of Kingston), Lynda Colgan (Professor Emerita, Queen’s University), Alejandro Adem (President, NSERC), Dwayne Miller (President, Science Rendezvous), Julie Ann Might (Board Member, Science Rendezvous), Katie Miller (Executive Director, Science Rendezvous), and Lissa Matyas (Board Member, Science Rendezvous).

• 

  Science Rendezvous Kingston took spot at the Leon’s Centre, in downtown Kingston.

• 

  Charlie Hindmarch (Medicine) performed a strawberry DNA extraction demonstration on stage.

• 

  Kingston Fire and Rescue ready a demonstration about the dynamics of a home fire and how to place it out.

• 

  The Chemistry Magic Show was a single of the highlights of the day.

• 

  Young guests discovered about animals, plants, and other science subjects.

• 

  Participating researchers ready hands-on activities to engage kids in STEM.

What occurs when you collect a vintage firetruck, state-of-the-art robots, and healthcare students performing reside ultrasounds of their personal hearts? Guests had been in a position to encounter all of this and far more at  Science Rendezvous Kingston, the biggest science outreach pop-up occasion in Canada.

On Saturday, Might 13, far more than five,300 youth and households visited Leon’s Centre and The Tragically Hip Way to engage with 50 booths and demonstrations that covered subjects from cardiovascular overall health, robotics and plant sciences to geology, engineering, and art conservation. A group of more than 430 volunteers, like Queen’s faculty members, researchers, and students, as effectively as representatives from nearby museums, schools, and neighborhood partners, ready the activities.

“Science Rendezvous Kingston is an critical chance for Kingston and Southeastern Ontario households to informally interact with our study practitioners, generating and possessing enjoyable with each other,” says Queen’s Vice-Principal (Investigation) Nancy Ross. “We strongly think that events like this assist to cut down the gaps among science and society, construct trust in science and in scientific institutions, and inspire the subsequent generation of scientists and innovators”.

A record of accomplishment

Science Rendezvous Kingston is portion of nation-wide initiative Science Rendezvous, designed in 2008 to engage Canadian citizens in science and engineering. Presently, Science Rendezvous is the biggest single-day science festival in the nation and spreads by way of 30 cities in ten provinces and two territories.

Queen’s has been the proud host of Science Rendezvous Kingston considering that 2011. The Kingstonian occasion, a single of the most thriving in Canada, has been recognized with national awards in 2020 and 2022. This year, Science Rendezvous Board of Directors chosen Kingston as a showcase occasion to market the value and the influence of the science festival.

Specific guests for the showcase occasion incorporated Alejandro Adem (President of the National Science and Engineering Investigation Council of Canada – NSERC), Bryan Paterson (Mayor of Kingston), Ted Hsu (Member of Provincial Parliament for Kingston and the Islands), Dr. Ross, Dwayne Miller (Founder and President of Science Rendezvous), Arthur McDonald (Nobel laureate and Queen’s Professor Emeritus), members of the Science Rendezvous Board of Directors, and senior administrators from nearby college boards and neighborhood organizations.

Decide on your personal adventure

All through the day, guests had been treated to reside demonstrations by Queen’s Division of Chemistry, Queen’s CardioPulmonary Unit, and Kingston Fire and Rescue. 4 top Canadian authors – Helaine Becker, L. E. Carmichael, Ishta Mercurio and Rochelle Strauss – also study their science stories to the public.

For the initially time, Science Rendezvous Kingston featured a Sensory Friendly Science Zone, developed to help kids with consideration deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism, social and emotional mental overall health wants, or other sensory-connected or physical disabilities. This pilot project was sponsored by an NSERC PromoScience Supplement and supplied exclusive booths and activities exactly where kids could discover exhibits and interact with researchers in a quieter atmosphere.

“With my background in educational assessment, I know that it is incorrect to say that a thing is great, but I honestly believe that the highest achievable score for a public education occasion was surpassed on Saturday Might 13th,” says Queen’s Professor Emerita Lynda Colgan, founder and co-coordinator of Science Rendezvous Kingston. “From Dr. Adem to the 4-year old ringing the bell on the vintage fire truck, there had been smiles all about as the informal mastering infused Leon’s Centre and Tragically Hip Way. It was a celebratory neighborhood occasion that will set a new regular for STEM festivals across the country”.

Whilst the in-particular person occasion has ended, Science Rendezvous Kingston continues on line. Librarians at Queen’s Faculty of Education ready booklists with recommended readings to complement Science Rendezvous activities, each in English and in French. On top of that, booth presenters created activities for households and kids to do at property or at college, like a dancing raisins experiment, an artificial heart craft, guidelines for generating a bird-friendly backyard, and a balloon rocket.

For these searching to attend subsequent year, Science Rendezvous Kingston – INNOVATE will take spot on Might 11, 2024. Please stop by the web-site for far more facts.