Today’s focus for #ocsbSTEAM week is Science. Today’s highlights include keynote speaker Brian Aspinall, founder of Code Breaker, best-selling author, and award-winning educator in coding and computational thinking. We’ve also got black author and entrepreneur Sasha Ariel Alston who encourages youth to explore educational and career opportunities in STEM.
Don’t forget to check out all the STEAM activities happening at the OCSB on Twitter using #ocsbSTEAM and #ocsbScience
Ideas to support your child’s science exploration
If your child is in Kindergarten to grade 6
- Go on nature walks, whether in your neighbourhood or a nearby nature trail. Take the time to look at the environment around you. What do you notice? What has changed? What remains the same? Why?
- Foster your child’s inner scientist by encouraging them to observe, ask questions, tinker, make, experiment and seek their own solutions to challenges or problems.
If your child is in grades 7 to 12
- Get outside! It provides a terrific opportunity to discuss a wide range of topics such as ecosystems, photosynthesis, sustainable energy, Astronomy, local geology, and biodiversity!
- Keep learning “hands-on.” Encourage your child to explore using the scientific method: observe/question, predict, test and/or critically gather information, reflect about findings and seek connections to the world around them.
- Support your child in exploring careers in Science by going to museums, subscribing to organizations that provide STEM mentorship opportunities, listening to Science podcasts and staying tuned into the news of discoveries & advancements in the field of Science.
How we support your child’s learning at the OCSB
- We’ve recently provided each of our schools with micro:bits and Inksmith’s climate action kit to explore coding and the environment.
- Our Science initiatives foster the Deep Learning competencies of Collaboration, Critical Thinking, Creativity, Citizenship, Community, and Character.
- We’ve been working with Let’s Talk Science, Science North, Ottawa University, and Skills Ontario to provide our teachers with professional development and resources or workshops for our students.
- We have given your child access to interactive digital tools like Mystery Science and Gizmos that simulate real-world Science problems, so they can form and test ideas to find solutions– just like real scientists.