Science Rendezvous 2023 | Queen’s University Gazette

Households across Southeastern Ontario and specific guests joined Science Rendezvous Kingston on May well 13.

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  From left to correct: Nancy Ross (Vice-Principal Study, 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 May well (Board Member, Science Rendezvous), Katie Miller (Executive Director, Science Rendezvous), and Lissa Matyas (Board Member, Science Rendezvous).

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

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

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

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  The Chemistry Magic Show was 1 of the highlights of the day.

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

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

What takes place when you collect a vintage firetruck, state-of-the-art robots, and health-related students carrying out reside ultrasounds of their personal hearts? Guests had been capable to practical experience all of this and additional at  Science Rendezvous Kingston, the biggest science outreach pop-up occasion in Canada.

On Saturday, May well 13, additional 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 wellness, robotics and plant sciences to geology, engineering, and art conservation. A group of more than 430 volunteers, which includes Queen’s faculty members, researchers, and students, as properly as representatives from neighborhood museums, schools, and neighborhood partners, ready the activities.

“Science Rendezvous Kingston is an significant chance for Kingston and Southeastern Ontario households to informally interact with our analysis practitioners, generating and obtaining enjoyable collectively,” says Queen’s Vice-Principal (Study) Nancy Ross. “We strongly think that events like this assistance to minimize the gaps in between science and society, create trust in science and in scientific institutions, and inspire the subsequent generation of scientists and innovators”.

A record of results

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

Queen’s has been the proud host of Science Rendezvous Kingston due to the fact 2011. The Kingstonian occasion, 1 of the most profitable 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 significance and the influence of the science festival.

Unique guests for the showcase occasion integrated Alejandro Adem (President of the National Science and Engineering Study 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 neighborhood college boards and neighborhood organizations.

Pick out 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 young children with focus deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism, social and emotional mental wellness demands, or other sensory-associated or physical disabilities. This pilot project was sponsored by an NSERC PromoScience Supplement and provided exclusive booths and activities exactly where young children 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 best, but I honestly believe that the highest feasible score for a public education occasion was surpassed on Saturday May well 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 studying infused Leon’s Centre and Tragically Hip Way. It was a celebratory neighborhood occasion that will set a new normal for STEM festivals across the country”.

Although 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. Also, booth presenters created activities for households and young children to do at house or at college, which includes a dancing raisins experiment, an artificial heart craft, directions for generating a bird-friendly backyard, and a balloon rocket.

For these seeking to attend subsequent year, Science Rendezvous Kingston – INNOVATE will take spot on May well 11, 2024. Please check out the web page for additional specifics.