Kids will turf their textbooks and get their hands on Frisbees,
parachutes and bicycle gears in a new after-school science program
created by University of British Columbia Assoc. Prof. Niamh Kelly
to be held at Vancouver’s Science World in two terms January to
June, 2000.
Called Hands-on Science, the program sees groups of up to 12 children
aged 7-10 years conducting a series of fun science experiments under
the leadership of UBC scientists and students.
“When kids have fun with science, they learn important life skills,
” says Kelly, an associate professor of Pathology and Laboratory
Medicine. “Thinking critically, developing hypotheses and testing
ideas are all part of exploring science.”
Workshops cover topics such as molecules and matter, electricity,
the senses, friction and gravity, chemical reactions and flight.
Children working in pairs are grouped with their peers in a seven-
to eight-year-old class or a nine- to 10-year-old class and progress
according to their level of understanding.
Graduate students from various UBC faculties, including Education
and Science, volunteer in the program and gain skills such as course
design, motivating, leading and communicating.
Kelly and her husband, science educator Dennis Dixon, have been
running the program in the community as a spring break and summer
camp for the last three years.
Classes are held in two terms Jan. 9 to March 18 and March 26 to
June 3 at Science World on Tuesdays, Wednesdays or Thursdays from
4-5 p.m. and cost $95 plus GST per term. For more information or
to register call (604) 443-7505.
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