Experiment with science sites

Check out exciting new ways to answer science questions

By Catherine Hume

Why is the sky blue? Why is the grass green? Why do children ask so many questions? “Curiosity obviously did not kill the cat,” says Jamie McKenzie, an educator and author of Learning to Question, to Wonder, to Learn (FNO Press, 2005). “Kids ask questions because they want to satisfy their sense of wonder and figure out their world.”

Thanks to the Internet, curious kids of all ages can start learning about the world with a few simple clicks.

School goes online

While most schools today teach computer courses to ensure students are ready for the technological world, some science programs are going a step further by combining the classroom and the Internet. Terry Fox Secondary School in Port Coquitlam, B.C., for instance, offers an online astronomy course.

“Kids use the Internet exclusively to obtain their information,” says course creator Teena Della, who teaches earth science and geology. “I also have assignments in my other classes where students must go to the library computer lab. This works well for topics like astronomy that are constantly being updated with new information.” Ask your children’s school about online courses.

Science up close and personal

Depending on where you live, there may be a place to go that’s devoted to the study of science, even when school is not in session. Children in the East can head to the Huntsman Marine Science Centre or Science East; students in the West to Science World or H.R. MacMillan Space Centre; and kids in between to the Ontario Science Centre or the Manitoba Museum Science Gallery.

Young scientists can also head to specialty camps to get a summer fix. Consider Camp Kennedy Space Centre for the budding astronaut; Whale Camp on Grand Manan Island in the Bay of Fundy for the future marine biologist; Badlands Science Camp at the Royal Tyrrell Museum in Alberta for the amateur paleontologist; and Safari Zoo Camp at Jungle Cat World in Orono, Ont., for the neophyte zoologist.

Alternatively, science can come to you. Presenters from Mad Science franchises across Canada and the United States deliver fun, hands-on, “minds-on” science to over 5 million children each year at birthday parties, classroom workshops, after-school programs and special events.

“Excite kids with visual content, really cool equipment and really cool experiments, and they’ll be hungry to learn about what happened,” explains Ron Shlien, co-founder of the Mad Science Group. “We want to inspire children to (a) keep an open mind toward the sciences and (b) experience life around them in a way they might normally not have.”

Technological wonders

Television series and their companion web sites are also excellent vehicles for kids’ science information. The digital channel Discovery Kids broadcasts shows, such as Animal Atlas and Popular Mechanics for Kids, and offers loads of links on its web site for students working on science fair projects as well as for those who need a bit of homework help.

On TVOntario, the station’s site (under Parents) offers fun activities about dinosaur digs and composting.

And of course, Bill Nye the Science Guy, though no longer in production, maintains a great site featuring lots of do-it-at-home science activities.

Just the facts, ma’am

New information on just about every subject imaginable is a Bing away. But is everything we read online true? Richard Wassersug, scientist in residence at Discovery Channel Canada offers these tips to help young researchers.

Verify, verify, verify. Try to find the same piece of information on at least two different sites. If it’s worded differently each time, it’s a good indication that the authors thought about their words and didn’t just cut and paste from another site.
Check credentials. Do an Internet search on the person or organization associated with the information. Find out who they are and why you should believe what they’re saying.
Go long. Urban myths tend to be short and are often reduced to slogans: “no pain, no gain,” for instance. Good facts are more likely to require longer explanations.