UVic Science Collaboration Makes Learning Fun

February 26, 2021

Academics

GNS

The IB Science 7-01 class had the opportunity to take part in a special collaboration with education students at the University of Victoria. Ms. Shawna Parks has been working with Mr. Rob Kiddell, a professor at UVic and former principal at the Beach Campus, for the past two years where fourth-year university students help to create science activities for the GNS Middle School.

“This is a great opportunity for both of our students and the UVic students to have an authentic learning experience,” said Ms. Parks.

In the past, all of the Grade 7 students were taken by bus to the UVic campus to do a variety of science experiments. With the current COVID-19 restrictions however, they had to rely on technology this year.

“The lab assistant from UVic prepared and sanitized all the equipment for each of the 14 groups and delivered it to our school,” explained Ms. Parks. “Each student received a bag of supplies and our GNS students worked through the various experiments individually with the UVic students via Google Meet.”

Some of the fun experiments the students were able to complete included ones that explored electromagnetism, Newton’s laws, gravity, density, chemical reactions, mixtures, properties of ice and static electricity.

Putting together this collaboration took many hours and was no easy feat, but Ms. Parks says she does it for the students.

“To see my students engaged, excited, questioning and having fun is awesome,” she said. “It’s also encouraging and exciting to see new teachers taking on the role of creating experiments that ignite curiosity and a sense of wonder for the world of science.”

After the experiments, many students described the opportunity as “fun, interesting and exciting.” Many giving positive feedback about their experience like:

“I really loved doing this. The UVic students did a great job of helping us process it and make it fun!”
“I really liked how fun and interesting this experiment was and how I could apply knowledge from the past units.”
“A great way to learn. Learning with peers is a great thing to do!”

Thank you to the University of Victoria students for putting together such a fun and science-filled class.

“This is such a rewarding and fun experience for our students,” added Ms. Parks. “They participated and cooperated so well. Collaboration is such a beneficial tool, it gives all of us an opportunity to learn from each other. These types of activities remind me of this quote from Alfred Mercier, ‘What we learn with pleasure we never forget.’”