Visiting Gibson Elementary School in Delta, BC
For the last fifteen years, I have been visiting K-12 schools in British Columbia with science and mathematics presentations and hands-on activities. I am one of many scientists, engineers, educators, and innovators who donate their time and who are supported by Scientists and Innovators in the Schools organization. We volunteer our knowledge, time, and expertise to inspire students in BC schools through school visits. I also would like to support our many dedicated and hard-working teachers who are working on designing interesting hands-on STEM activities for their students.
It is hard to find students, who would be uninspired by the Van de Graaff generator. While it’s hard for me to bring it to schools, I bring many smaller and effective demos with me.
Last Friday, January 17, 2020, I was invited by a librarian at Gibson Elementary School (Mrs. Grace Yan) to visit their school – Gibson Elementary School. It was clear, Mrs. Yan is a Teacher who wants to support her students in STEM. As a librarian she makes sure the students have a variety of STEM resources. She also organizes after school STEM activities and supports other teachers. It was very clear to me when I visited the school.
When I came (and it is a relatively long drive from UBC), I tried to interact with as many students as possible. This time, Mrs. Yan arranged me to see the kids from three different groups – from the very young to older (1-2, 3-4 and 5-6). It was a very interesting opportunity as this is a very diverse school in terms of the students’ SES, as well as their origin. Moreover, the place is relatively removed from the big universities in our city. However, it was clear that both Mrs. Yan and Mr. Gerry Rietze were very inspirational teachers. I thin the students are very lucky to have them.
I hope to visit the school in the future again. I also the students from this school will come to UBC for our next Family Math and Science Day:
