A,B,Seas: Fundamentals of Oceanography
In this workshop, participants are engaged in several hands-on activities to explore the chemical, physical, and biological aspects of the ocean by investigating the unique properties of water, and the effects that temperature and acidification levels play on the marine environment.
All You Need is Math – The Connections Between Mathematics and Music
By Jason Brown (Math&Stat Dal)
Music is all about mathematics – the science of patterns. This talk will explain why we like certain scales and rhythms, why we are drawn to the blues, and how to unravel some Beatles’ mysteries.
A microscopic look at living plant cells
By Atlantic Science Links Association
This workshop presents a unique opportunity to visit a plant cell biology lab and discover the amazing properties of the lace plant.
Brilliant Coding with Robots and Micro-Controllers!
By Sarah Ryan (Brilliant Labs)
Explore the exciting world of robotics and micro-controllers with Brilliant Labs! Learn to control motors for movement, infrared sensors for obstacle avoidance, colour-changing LEDs, and many more features of mBots , Makey Makeys, and Micro:bits. No need to be a coding expert--we'll be using "drag and drop" visual programming suitable for beginner and intermediate levels so you can jump right into coding hardware with little-to-no experience using the web-based Make Code.
Busting Myths about Girls in STEM
By Sally Marchand (WISE Atlantic)
Why is there still a focus on getting more girls into Science, Technology Engineering and Math (STEM) careers, hasn’t this issue been solved already? In this session we discuss the various factors and myths that are keeping girls out of STEM careers and what is being done to bust these myths. Participants will also get the opportunity to learn about awesome women in STEM with our timeline game!
How to use a slide rule
By Peter Selinger (Math&Stat Dal)
The slide rule, invented by John Napier in the 17th century, was the most important calculation tool for scientists and engineers for almost 350 years. It was still in widespread use in the 1950s and 1960s, but disappeared almost completely after it was replaced by the electronic calculator in the 1970s. In this workshop, you will learn how to use a slide rule to compute multiplications, divisions, roots, powers, and other operations. You will also learn some of the theory behind how a slide rule works. Each girl will assemble her own working slide rule out of materials that will be provided.
Cryptography: the study of secret messages.
By Mayada Shahada (Math&Stat Dal)
Cryptography is the study of protecting, coding, storing and transmitting information and messages so that only those who are intended to may read it. In other words, it is the study of secret messages and codes. Encryption is the conversion of messages to the secret code, called ciphertext. In order to read the information normally, one must decrypt the ciphertext, converting it back into plaintext. In this talk, we will look at some different types of cryptography that are used.
Pentominoes
By Asmita Sodhi (Math&Stat Dal)
A pentomino is a shape made by joining five equal squares side-by-side – think TETRIS, but with five squares instead of four! In this session, we’ll discover the different possible pentominoes, and explore some tiling puzzles that use these shapes.
Code Breaking/Telling the Future
By Annamieka Aerts (Math&Stat Dal)
- What are binary numbers, and why are they useful? In this workshop, students will explore binary numbers, from converting decimal numbers to binary, all the way to writing messages in secret code.
- How do you win a dice game? When is a gamble actually a sure thing? Using probability theory, students will be able to see the order in randomness and learn to predict the likelihood of future events.
Chemistry
By SuperNOVA at Dalhousie
Chemistry is all around us; the world is made up of tiny bits and pieces that work together in interesting and unique ways. Through hands-on activities and demonstrations, this workshop investigates chemical reactions, polymers, chromatography and pH levels!
Oceans
By SuperNOVA at Dalhousie
Dive into the deep blue with this new program. Covering aspects of ocean literacy, we’ll explore hot ocean topics with experiments in ocean acidification, deep sea exploration and an oil spill clean-up challenge!
Physics
By SuperNOVA at Dalhousie
Using the fundamental laws guiding our universe, participants will complete a series of challenges and hands-on activities! The laws of motion, friction and gravity will be explored as well as light and colour through an interactive circuit board. Finally, participants will build their own take home kaleidoscope!
Physio fun
By Carolyn Crane and Jillian Dierijck (Dal School of Physiotherapy)
In this workshop, participants will learn everything they ever wanted to know about physiotherapy. They will explore the equipment, have an anatomy activity, and get to know what physiotherapists do.
Neuroscience with the human-human interface
By Gracious Kasheke and Anna Minarik (Neuroscience Dal)
Showing off some physics and chemistry
By Alison Keefe, Ines Hamam and Tina Taskovic (Physics Dal)
The workshop will be run by three female graduate students, who all have a passion for science! Come with a curious mind as we demo various concepts of physics and a little bit of chemistry. You will experience concepts such as electricity and momentum but through a fun and interactive way. The best part is that you will get a chance to build and engineering a little motor of your own which you can keep! As a bonus, we will also explore what liquid nitrogen is and run some “cool” experiments.
Industrial Engineering in action
By Dua'a Hijazi, Ahmed Saif and Tara Sherrard (Engineering Dal)
Engineers make things; Industrial engineers make things better! Participants in this workshop will get a chance to try three hands-on activities that resemble tasks conducted by industrial engineers. An assembly station activity will introduce work design and time-and-motion-analysis techniques. A Rube Goldberg project will familiarize participants with the concept of automation. Finally, a simple knapsack problem will be solved as an example of the application of operations research techniques in engineering. All activities will emphasize the value added by industrial engineers in a variety of settings and the interesting nature of their work.
Engineering a Space Habitat
By Mae Seto (Engineering Dal)
The session starts with a discussion on what humans need to survive on Earth and then extending that to what humans need in space. Working in small teams, the girls will build model habitats that meet the challenges of living on Mars or the Moon. Each team will address 2-3 survival requirements for their habitat. The Girl Guide tenting camp experience will provide context, and a starting point, for their habitat's requirements, design, and operations towards human survival and ability to work well.
Introduction to Game Development with Python
By DalWiTS
In this session, DalWiTS (Dalhousie Women in Technology Society) will walk you through the process of building a small game using Python. We will learn about some common programming and game development practices along the way, and leave the session with a working game!
What is Radiation Therapy and How Does It Work?
By Krista Chytyk-Praznik (Medical Physics Dal)
This workshop will show the steps required to treat a cancer patient with radiation therapy, and what the role of each medical professional is. You’ll also get to see a radiation therapy linear accelerator in action and we’ll make some dose measurements.
Magnetic Moments - Imaging and Biology
By Kim Brewer (Diagnostic Radiology Dal)
We'll tour a preclinical MRI lab and clinical MEG lab and learn about how different types of imaging can be used to learn about a variety of diseases and treatments. We'll also have hands on activities that include playing with gyroscopes (to learn how MRI works), looking at cells that we'll eventually image under the microscope, and imaging fruit with MRI.
Campus tours (Dalhousie and St.Mary's)
Exploration Mars!
Learn about and experience the challenges of space exploration using un-manned space probes (orbiters, landers and rovers), and use them to make discoveries about Mars and its ability to support life.
DNA Extraction
Participants analyze the very basic DNA structure and the rules of base pairing by examining the double helix ladder, the process of DNA replication, and the importance of cell division.
Slimy Science
Be prepared to get slimed as we explore the properties of matter. Students get messy as they conduct experiments on physical and chemical changes to matter. This 1-hour workshop has a fun take home for students.
Electric Odyssey
Explore current and static electricity in this jam-packed 1-hour workshop. Groups of students are challenged to hook up simple, series and parallel circuits on our circuit boards. Students get an up close look at how positive static electricity can be.
Tide to Technology
Tide to Technology provides students with an introduction to ocean sciences and technology-related careers in Nova Scotia and across the world. Circulating through interactive and informative hands-on stations, students explore marine geomatics, ROVs, marine acoustics, and ocean technology-related careers through trivia.
Humpty Dumpty Goes Bungee Jumping
By Engineers NS
In this activity students will learn about modeling by building a model of an egg. They will also learn about iterative design by designing a bungee jumping cord for the model egg and then modifying to improve upon that design. Through this activity, the students will learn and implement the design process. They will understand that failure is a natural part of learning and will hopefully gain a confidence in themselves with respect to engineering.
Water for the world
By Engineers NS
In this activity students will construct and test a water filter. Through this activity, the students will learn and implement the design process. They will understand that failure is a natural part of learning and will hopefully gain a confidence in themselves with respect to engineering. They will also learn about literacy and GDP in different countries and the impact those can have on access to clean drinking water. Students work in groups of 4-5 to make their own water filters from recycled plastic bottles and multiple layers of sand and gravel. Each group represents a different country, some developing and others developed (for example Ghana and Canada). They are each provided with different levels of information and play money, dependent upon their country's literacy rate and national wealth.
Wind Lift
By Engineers NS
In this activity students will design wind turbine blades, construct them and test them to see how many pennies they can lift. They will modify their designs to increase the number of pennies their design can lift. Through this activity, the students will learn and implement the design process. They will understand that failure is a natural part of learning and will hopefully gain a confidence in themselves with respect to engineering.
Learning with Snails
By Sarah Kingsbury (Environmental Science SMU)
This workshop presents aquatic invasive species in a fun and hands-on way. Participants will be introduced to Chinese mystery snails and will be prompted to identify the males from the females. Then, they’ll use microscopes to look at the shell structures in detail, learn how to identify and sketch different species of snails.
The Floating Flagpole
By Robert Dawson (Math SMU)
A "tensegrity structure" stays up by opposing the forces in cables under tension and struts under compression. Participants will learn how to build a simple freestanding tensegrity flagpole that can be used at camp. No knots beyond the clove hitch are required.
Tastings of engineering
By Don Macneil (Engineering SMU)
This workshop will consist of three activities:
- Students will construct simple bridges/trusses out of popsicle sticks and they will be tested for strength using our mechanical strength tester.
- Students will construct/assemble a simple boat with motor to navigate a short water channel. Depending on time and arrangements, the students may print out a part using a 3D printer. A demo of the printers could be held regardless.
- Students will have a chance to experience Virtual Reality with one of our headsets.
Edwina Rissland
By Andrew Hare (Computing Science SMU)
Do you know Edwina Rissland? As a graduate student in mathematics at MIT, she did groundbreaking work, which culminated in an important paper: Understanding understanding mathematics. This work has proven influential for researchers in cognitive science, automated theorem-proving, and mathematics education. She then went on to an illustrious career studying computer science and artificial intelligence
The art of Mathematics
By Wendy Finbow-Singh (Math SMU)
This workshop is an exploration of the mathematics behind some of Escher's fascinating artworks. The participants will create their own unique tilings of the plane.
Making Decorative Math
By Paul Carreiro, Eva Knoll, Wendy Landry, Katie Puxley and Tara Taylor (Mathweave)
This workshop will allow participants to make a wearable or decorative object that includes mathematics as part of the design or structure. Students will be able to choose from weaving, bead-weaving, braiding, or pattern design activities to examine how patterns in textiles and in mathematics are related.
Ready, SET, play!
By Danielle Cox (Math MSVU)
In this session we will explore the game of SET. We will learn about the interesting history behind the development of the game, discover some fun mathematical properties using the SET cards and we will play the game too!