Kids Festival of Ideas

Activities for Kids
Saturday, November 17
11:00 a.m
Enterprise Square
10230 Jasper Avenue
Free

UAlberta students and faculty have organized some truth-seeking and myth-busting fun for kids. During this special event, children aged 6 to 12 can explore the sciences and humanities through a wide range of hands-on activities led by UAlberta students and experts.

Activities include experiments, demonstrations and games from science, engineering, math, philosophy, museum studies and music. Children with adult chaperones can drop in any time between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. to participate.

Let’s Talk Science

At this year’s Festival of Ideas, we will be showing students how to extract DNA from fruit and make gold pennies. Please bring pennies to help our limited supply!

Let’s Talk Science is a national non-profit organization focused on bringing hands-on science outreach to the classroom free of charge to teachers. With branches at almost every university across Canada, we want to make science fun and interesting for students so that they consider science as an important part of their careers and futures!

Philosophy for Children

We will showcase two different approaches for taking children on adventures with ideas. One will feature engaging children's stories as a stimulus to spark a facilitated discussion with children. The other will come from the activity based summer-camp series Eurekamp!

Philosophy for Children Alberta is an organization that brings philosophy to children to build critcal thinking skills and creativity in a community of enquiry.  Check out our website!

DiscoverE

DiscoverE will conduct some science experiments and show case some of the projects we do with children ages 6 -12.

DiscoverE is a student-delivered initiative run out of the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Alberta.  We focus on fun, accessibility and mentorship to deliver programs about engineering, science and technology! We deliver high-impact classroom workshops, unique clubs and events, and engaging summer camps to nearly 20,000 youth every year. Our programs reach over 50 communities across the Edmonton area, northern Alberta and the Northwest Territories. 

At DiscoverE’s award-winning camps, campers complete exciting projects and challenges across the many fields of engineering and science. In addition to microelectronics, biology, space and music camps, we also offer introduction to engineering, robotics, all-girls technology and fitness-combo camps, along with many more. From our gripping general science camps to our thrilling theme camps, there is fun science waiting for everyone!   

Visit our booth to:
- Learn more about Engineering, Science and Technology.
- Conduct some fun science experiments.
- Engage in cool hands-on projects.
- Play with our Electricity and and Robotics kits.
- Meet our balancing beaver.

Check out our website and find out more about DiscoverE by liking us on Facebook. You can also follow DiscoverE on Twitter and get updates about which projects children are working on in real time! We are very excited about our social media connection this year and can’t wait to keep everyone up-to-date and informed about our camp goings-on.

 

Kids Festival of Ideas - What’s up with the U?

2:00pm to 3:00pm
Saturday, November 17
Enterprise Square
10230 Jasper Avenue NW
Free

Older children can join four outstanding UAlberta graduate students who will share the excitement of their current research and discoveries. Come and hear about some of the fascinating and important research currently underway at UAlberta. What’s up with the U? will present research in into drug use/abuse, tropical ecosystems, “intelligent” bacteria in our guts, and the cultural story of Seattle’s punk rock scene.

Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research

FCSR Outreach will set up our tables with a forensics theme that will introduce children to various aspects of science.  Children will be able to make a foot print using chalk, a finger print using graphite, or an ink analysis using filter paper.  By looking at all the evidence, the children will be able to identify who was the culprit who took an item from the museum. 

FGSR Outreach builds bridges between graduate students and the community so that these junior researchers may share their knowledge and experience. Graduate students can be found in disciplines from law to engineering and medicine to fine arts. 

Team UP Science

Team Up Science is an organization that was established in the summer of 2011 by two students at the University of Alberta. It serves to bridge the information gap between urban and rural Alberta by centralizing the accessibility of educational resources, opportunities, and programs for under-represented high school students outside the urban core. Our mission is to provide students with a new perspective to the university experience, to educate about scholastic opportunities, to stimulate an appreciation of the scientific process, and to integrate them into the urban research scene.

The Kids Festival will be an event that showcases TeamUp Science as a resource that guides patrons of this event to the many opportunities available to students today.  We will focus on bringing this information to parents and students to encourage participation in these wonderful opportunities.  At the Festival of Ideas, TeamUP Science will demonstrate how to extract DNA from a Strawberry.  Children will have the opportunity to actively participate and work together with their peers to complete this project as well as be a part of an interactive discussion regarding DNA.

WISEST

Performing hands on science experiments that kids will be able to participate in.

  • Polymer Slime
  • Ice Cube Lifter
  • Magic Disappearing Balls

We also have the following as demonstrations:

  • Colour Changing Milk
  • Exploding Toothpaste
  • Lava Lamp

WISEST (Women in Scholarship, Engineering, Science and Technology) is a University of Alberta organization that seeks to increase diversity by providing support and encouragement for individuals of all ages to pursue their interests in science, engineering and technology.  At the Festival of Ideas, WISEST will introduce participants to scientific concepts through hands-on experiments and demonstrations and volunteers will be available to discuss and answer questions concerning programs offered by WISEST. Most of all WISEST's involvement with the Festival Ideas will allow participants to see the FUN side of science and technology!          

Museums and Collections Services

http://www.perceptionsofpromise.com/

The University of Alberta Museums is a distributed network of 29 diverse museum collections located in faculties and departments across campus where they are used daily in teaching, research and community outreach programs. Museums and Collections Services (MACS) is an academic support unit that is the central source of professional museum information, services, programs, and expertise.