The North is going through unprecedented changes that affect Indigenous peoples: unstable weather, countless out-of-control wildfires, low water levels and invasive species spreading through our ecosystems.
Whether they come from the earth, the air or the water, the forces of nature can be devastating for our planet.
In this interactive workshop, your scientists take part in 4 experiments (60 minutes) or 5 experiments (75 minutes), including a volcanic eruption modelled on Mount Garibaldi, Mount Cayley and Mount Meager, well known in southwestern British Columbia.
The workshop opens with a vacuum chamber demonstration that tracks air pressure (hPa). It shows students that at a pressure of 1,000 hPa, the air above one square metre weighs about ten tonnes!
Students then study the winds of a tornado, test the force of an object falling from space, look at the consequences of global warming and check whether a building can withstand a 15-second earthquake.
You’ll come out safe and sound!
Learning goals (elementary)
- Describe how the quality of water, soil or air affects living things.
- Describe the main features of the Earth’s surface (for example, continents, oceans, ice caps, mountains, volcanoes).
- Describe some natural phenomena (for example, erosion, lightning, tornadoes, hurricanes).
- Describe how some natural phenomena affect the environment or people’s well-being.
- Recognize how Earth, atmosphere and space technologies affect people’s lives and environment (for example, prospecting equipment, weather instruments, seismographs, telescopes, satellites, space stations).
- Use simple measuring instruments correctly (ruler, dropper, graduated cylinder, scale, thermometer, weather vane, barometer, anemometer, hygrometer).
