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School Tours

Research In Motion and the Canada-Wide Science Fair 2008 organizing committee are pleased to invite all Ottawa region school boards to participate in this exciting event to be held in Ottawa from May 10-18, 2008.  The event brings over 450 students from across Canada as top winners of their regional science fairs to compete at the week-long national event, being hosted at the University of Ottawa.

The opportunities for tours of the science fair exhibits are:
 
  • Monday May 12, 9:30-12:30 – Grades 7-8 only. Two 90 minute sessions on the exhibit floor to view the exhibits
  • Friday May 16, 9:30-12:00 – Grades 9-12 only. Two 75 minute sessions on the exhibit floor to view the exhibits.
  • Approximate capacity of 500 student visitors on the exhibit floor per session (1000 per day)
  • Student spaces allocated on a per capita basis to each board
  • Board selection of school and class attendance by per-board CWSF school subcommittee representatives
  • Visiting students will be guided through exhibitors with engaging student activities directly linked to the curriculum  (see below suggested material)
  • Any interested teachers are welcome to attend the sessions and activities on either day (without students)
  • The exhibits are open for public viewing Saturday, May 17 9am-12pm.
 
Access to the exhibit area is controlled and requires a pass that will be distributed to registered guests.  The pass identifies a Group Number which determines the event schedule for that group, and the location information of where and when to go.   In addition to viewing of the CWSF 2008 exhibits, there will be lectures provided adjacent to the exhibit area for the alternate time slots. 
 

The complete event schedule by Group, which tells you where to be when, can be seen here: userfiles/School Tours Ecoles 2008 schedule.xls

A map of the campus showing the building locations is here: http://www.uottawa.ca/maps/maincampus.html

 
The English Group lectures will consist of the following:
·        30 minutes: Karen Klink and Krista Cressman fromResearch in Motion will discuss the science behind the BlackBerry and innovative uses of Smartphone wireless technology.
·        30 minutes: Dr. Sean Barry from Carleton University will provide an entertaining session on Nanotechnology
 
The French Group lectures will be a 1 hour presentation by Dr. Marcel Leblanc from the University of Ottawa titled Cryogenic Cabaret / Cryomagic / Physics is Phun:

An expert in cryophysics, Dr. LeBlanc chills his audience with a -78° C blizzard, freezes -200° C liquid nitrogen by boiling, morphs into a dragon spouting -200° C vapors, transforms soggy frozen cigars into torches. In the pursuit of science he sings baritone and tenor, fires electromagnetic cannons and cannons belching smoke rings at the audience, invites teams to split pairs of sealed hemispheres, levitates magnetic and electric coils, smashes rubber balls and freezes everything but your imagination.

 

Arrival Instructions:

See the attached Campus plan for a map of the campus CSWF venues.

 

- Buses are to arrive on the route shown in yellow, dropping off and picking up passengers on Jacques-Lussier in front of the Lamoureux building.  Be sure to clearly indicate with bus signs the bus you need to find as there will be many buses.

- Bus parking is available at G1, 200 Lees Ave (free parking)

- Automobile parking is also available in any of the pay lots shown (payment required).

 

The exhibit area is in the Montpetit Gym. The lecture halls for the RIM lecture sessions (Marion, Alumni Hall in the University Centre and McDonald room 146) are all very short walks from the gym / dropoff area.   The routes to the halls will be indicated with yellow tape on the sidewalks, and signage.

 

Visitors are asked to arrive at all venues at least 10 minutes before the start time of each session. 

Please leave the exhibit area immediately when asked to do so to facilitate the next session entering.

 

Teachers - be sure to stop at the ORSF booth in the exhibit area for information on next year's fair.

 

See you there!

 
School Tours Subcommittee

The members of the School Tours Subcommittee are:

 
Teachers interested in visiting CWSF2008 with students should communicate with your respective contacts above to be provided with access passes.  Tours attendance is by reservation only.
 
Participation in this event is entirely optional. Schools who choose to participate will be exposed to cutting edge science and will benefit from the opportunity to interact with innovative, award winning youth from across Canada.  Given the limited capacity of the CWSF School Tours, interested schools will need to coordinate their visit with their School Tours Subcommittee contact.
 
The subcommittee has generated the attached curriculum coupling proposals to help visiting teachers connect the CWSF experience with the curriculum.  These suggestions are entirely optional and are intended to assist teachers. No obligation to follow these suggestions is implied.

Curriculum Coupling Material For Visitors

Created by Louise Ogilvie, OCCSB
Diana MacFarlane, OCDSB
 
CWSF is a highly authentic learning activity for students that integrates literacy and numeracy while addressing multiple curriculum expectations in science.
 
The subcommittee has generated the below coupling proposals to help visiting teachers connect the CWSF experience with the curriculum. These suggestions are entirely optional and are intended to assist teachers. No obligation to follow these suggestions is implied.
 
As Science educators, we are very excited with the prospect of being the host city for the Canada-Wide Science Fair in 2008. The opportunity for our students to view the calibre of projects on display during this week is unique. As part of that learning opportunity we have taken the initiative to develop a variety of educational material that students can use when they visit the exhibits at this event.
 
The materials presented in this package are intended to support the student’s learning experience at the CWSF. Materials are not only cross-curricular, but also support a balanced literacy framework providing the classroom teacher with materials that they can easily incorporate into their classrooms, whether it is a computer, science, language arts, mathematics or history class. Materials have been developed to satisfy the needs of students in multiple grade levels. Additionally, they can be easily modified or accommodated for the special needs or ESL learners.
 

Classroom teachers will appreciate that rubrics have been provided for some activities to ease the use of these materials by students for evaluation and assessment purposes, while viewing the exhibits.

Documents for download:           

 
 
 

CWSF 2008 Benefits to Educators and the Community

  • Students, teachers, parents and the general public from across the Ottawa-Carleton and Gatineau regions will see the best Science Fair projects in the country.
  • Increased Science Fair involvement in Ottawa Regional Science Fair and in the Province
  • Increased hands-on and cooperative learning in science classrooms
  • Involvement of high school science teachers in CWSF Judging teams
  • An excellent professional learning opportunity for activity-based science
  • Mentorship and promotional opportunities for companies and organizations
  • Involvement of various staff of companies and organizations in the planning of the Fair and participation in many key aspects of its execution
  • Exposure for some of Canada’s brightest students to our region and institutions
  • Opportunity for sponsors to be seen as champions of Science education 

 
For more information, contact:
 
Steve Morin, Chairman
CWSF 2008 RIM School Tours Subcommittee
steve@cwsf2008.ca

Or visit the YSF website for help with Science Projects:

http://ysf.ca/Teachers/