TISDALE — Youth got to experience the Regina Science Centre in Tisdale – without leaving their community.
The Tisdale Community Library hosted exhibits and staff from the science centre for a three-hour activity session on July 17.
“There are so many children that do not have the opportunity to go into Regina and go to the science centre,” said Isabel Hankins-Wilk, branch librarian. “And what are libraries for? To provide opportunities, books or experiences that children would not otherwise be able to have.”
The event was made possible by a Community Initiatives Fund grant, which supports programs and projects that fall within one of the organization’s three chosen themes of healthy growth and development of children and youth; individuals and community well-being; and nonprofit and community leadership.
Each of the three hours of the event covered a different topic. The first was about the ocean, the second about the outside, and the last about space.
Jenna McEwen, outreach science explorer with the science centre, was one of the educators for the program. Her job is to visit communities outside Regina.
McEwen said because the event is not part of school programming, organizers try to make sure the youth have fun and learn without knowing that they’re being educated.
“We have some things we developed as a group. Really it’s trial and error,” McEwen said. “We have our games, lots of demonstrations that we do, experiments, and we have some activities that are half demonstration and half volunteers that come and help out so kids can be involved.”
An example of a demonstration one for the ocean program in which the ocean’s different layers are represented by Tupperware containers filled with water.
“We pull out different layers of the ocean and talk about different creatures in the ocean and why each creature is different, stuff like that,” McEwen said.
In another activity that required volunteers, as part of the great outside module, youth held square blocks representing electrons and protons.
reporter@tisdalerecorder.ca
