Exhibitions
Every year at Science Rendezvous, we have the honour of showcasing all the amazing research & S.T.E.A.M. Big ideas happening at the University of Toronto!
We’re excited to collaborate with over 60 U of T departments & local organizations around the community to engage children and adults alike in all fields of S.T.E.A.M.
This year’s festival will include exciting booths about Medicine, Chemistry, to Robotics, and more! Check out our 2019 collaborators below!
For the clinical engineering stream we will have a monitor/tv display with the Kinect system to showcase the games that have been created to improve physical rehabilitation for young people. For the tissue engineering & regenerative displays we hope to have displays showcasing some of the beautiful photos captured in this field, potentially a VR system to visualize 3D confocal microscopy images and some prototypes from labs.
Finally, for the molecular engineering stream we would hope to have some displays to showcase the amazing work done by UofT researchers in that field!
Attendees will have the opportunity to interact with some of the technologies developed by the Possibility Engineering and Research Lab at Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital. Participants will be able to play video games designed for targeting hand and arm rehabilitation, cognitive function and music learning. Some of these video games incorporate “mixed-reality”, where the child needs to interact with real life objects (e.g.; musical instruments) in order to play. Our games are fun, inclusive and incorporate a multi-player option, allowing children from all abilities and their families to participate and engage in therapy activities while playing.”
CAN-BIND is excited to be participating in Science Rendezvous at the University of Toronto St. George
Campus again this year! This year, our booth will focus on gut microbes, probiotics and wellness!
Activities will include:
1) Build-a-Microbe
Did you know that there are friendly bacteria in your gut? Come find out what they look like and how
they are connected to your brain health. You can also create your very own sock puppet microbe at our
“build-a-microbe” station.
2) Where are the Bacteria?
There are bacteria all over the human body—some help us to stay healthy, while others can make us
sick. Learn about these bacteria and test your knowledge by categorizing the bacteria as “good” or
“bad” in our “Where are the Bacteria?” activity.
3) Bean Bag Toss
Try your hand at our microbe-themed bean bag toss. Win a small prize if you knock all the cans down!
4) Concentration Game
Can you match all the pairs in our concentration game? Learn about microbes and probiotic foods while
you play.
5) Probiotics
Have you noticed the buzz around probiotics lately? Come ask an expert about what probiotics are and
learn where to find information on evidence-based probiotic products.
6) Share a Wellness Goal
Come share a wellness goal on our community mural and create a wellness memento to help you to stay
well throughout the year.
7) Raffle Draw
Enter our raffle draw to win themed prizes for kids and adults, including plush microbes and two copies
of “The Psychobiotic Revolution: Mood, Food, and the New Science of the Gut-Brain Connection” by
Scott C. Anderson, John F. Cryan and Ted Dinan.
Follow us on Social media @CANBIND using #CANBINDSR.
“The Centre for Indigenous Studies S.T.E.A.M. Big! booth is all about water!
The Scientific makeup of water, Indigenous Water Knowledge and Ceremony, Water Protection and Art related to water!
Our booth will include Maps of Ontario Watersheds and boil water advisories to highlight water safety for surrounding communities, as well as water sovereignty for First Nations communities. Indigenous language will be included on the map, seeing as many Indigenous place names in Ontario are related to water and historically communities are located on a waterways which are networks for travel and trade.
Artwork & imagery relating to Indigenous Knowledge systems, Indigenous water knowledge and Women’s responsibilities around caring for water will be on display. We plan to have a birch bark basket, similar to those that are used for collecting maple water, that is boiled to make Maple Syrup and Maple Sugar/maple candies.
There will also be magnetic molecule kits for visitors to explore and build the structures for water, ice and gas. Visitors can learn how special water is, and that there is no possible way to replicate water synthetically.
Graphs, charts and other information related to water will be available for visitors to peruse.
Buttons with slogans: “”Water Is Life””, “”Is Your Water Safe?”” & “”Clean Water Is A Human Right”” will be available for visitors to take and wear. These buttons will ask people think about their personal relationships to water and to start thinking about how they will work to ensure that future generations will have clean, drinkable water.
Visitors will also be invited to colour their own Indigenous Language art buttons, as well as learn an Anishinaabemowin water song by Doreen Day.
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“Children will have the opportunity to learn about psychology and how it relates to our everyday lives! We have a fun and interactive challenge for children to test out their brain’s ability to quickly learn and adapt. We also have a hands-on activity to demonstrate how our brains understand motion and how this knowledge is used to create stop-motion-animation.
Families who are interested in participating in psychology research studies here at UofT will be able to sign up their children for our Child Study Centre database.
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“Destination Imagination is a non-profit global organization that challenges students to work collaboratively to come up with creative solutions to STEAM* based challenges. Our purpose is to inspire and equip students to become the next generation of innovators and leaders.
At our exhibit we will be running fun instant challenge activities! These are short challenges that the public can take part in, embracing their creativity, imagination, and problem-solving! We will also have a video talking more about the DI program which includes both short and long-term challenges for students.”
“The purpose of our booth is to build and reinforce nutrition knowledge among children and families, and to showcase the research and education work of University of Toronto’s Joannah & Brian Lawson Centre for Child Nutrition. A registered dietitian will lead interactive activities including a Jeopardy-style trivia game with prizes, and snack-building with healthy but fun foods.
(1) Trivia: Questions will span myth-busting, where and how foods grow, how food affects the body, Canada’s new Food Guide, and recent research findings (e.g., nutrition labels, marketing to children, iron deficiency, types of milk). Children will guess answers based on clues; prizes may include stickers and allergy-friendly snacks.
(2) Create a Healthy Snack: Children will build snacks using Canada’s new Food Guide. Ingredients will include fruits, vegetables and packaged snacks (allergy-friendly). Children will use mainly fresh, whole foods and a few processed foods to show that healthy snacks can be balanced, nutritious, fun and flavorful.
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Model Organism Booth: This exhibit will showcase various zebrafish, worms (C. elegans), yeast, bacteria and fruit flies that geneticists use for research, highlighting the techniques that scientists can use to modify these organisms. Children will be able to draw or paint portraits of new organisms that they would like to engineer.
Build-a-Cell Booth: Children will learn the different parts of the cell as they make a model out of edible materials including a cookie, icing, and candies.
Superbug Booth: Children will learn about bacteria and antibiotic resistance as they build their own bacterium at this arts and crafts station.
DNA Booth: With the help of volunteers, children can undertake a real life experiment, extracting DNA from bananas! Children will be taught about the genetic code that encodes amino acids, and ‘decode’ nucleotide sequences to spell out a special message that will come with their isolated Banana DNA.
Dream Booth: Children will be able to pose for a picture as the future scientist they dream to be at this photo booth station, complete with science props and lab coats.”
Sample activities include:
-Coding robots (EVE3 and Dash) to create designs
-Making a homemade bot that can draw on its own
-Examining the microscopic world using digital microscopy and creating digital artefacts
-Using optics to understand colour and inspire painting activities
-Design Challenge: Building a creative and complex structure, identifying mathematics and science principles involved “
“We intend to show several experiments with a strong visual component and focusing on light manipulation (e.g. prepare sets of light emitting solutions with emission ranging through the whole spectra of visible light; solar cells lighting up a light bulb).
In addition, we intend to use liquid nitrogen on some our experiments with a stronger focus on interacting with the public.”
“The Science Rendezvous exhibit will include a range of games and hands-on activities for visitors to participate at the Math booth. The activities on display will include
1. Variations of the game Tic-Tac-Toe: This will introduce visitors to the Game Theory in Mathematics. Visitors will learn about the 3-D and 4-D version of this game.
2. Cards and Magic Tricks: How to do magic tricks using a deck of cards and learning mathematical strategies behind these tricks.
3. Rubik’s cube: A classic math puzzle that intrigues many visitors to attempt. The visitors at the booth will be provided with strategies on making moves.
4. Tower of Hanoi: This activity is mainly targeted towards students in grades 2-5, to build on their logical thinking. Students are able to use concrete models to complete the game, with a specific set of conditions.
5. Pong-Toss: The visitors will be able to play a game tossing balls into the cups, and playing with numbers the ball lands up on. This will include challenging questions for adults and easier questions for children.
“The exhibits and related hands-on activities are made to engage visitors to actually turn this year’s summer season into their own big S.T.E.A.M. discovery adventure, based on our DIY Pet Bees Lab concept and free knowledge support from our experts, including invited members from the academic community.
In addition to the last year’s most popular exhibits, visitors are offered to explore a range of sample S.T.E.A.M. activity ideas for their Pet Bees Lab, in form of hands-on demonstrations, functional models and video episodes, with the emphasis on interdisciplinary approach. The presented sample activities are built around:
– Bees’ temperature tolerance experiments, to estimate correlation of the results with traditional beekeeping practices
– Sound analysis methods and tools to assess how informative are hive sounds at different stages of a bee colony life cycle
– Intricate balance of key factors in a bee colony’s seasonal population dynamics mathematical model
– Demand for innovative devices and technical solutions to simplify the process of inspecting or structuring a bee colony
– Rehabilitation and social reintegration of people with some physical disabilities through Pet Bees Lab
– Seven main products of the hive, and their special properties worth to learn and research more about
“Showcasing Zephyr, our new 2018-2019 ASME vehicle. It is a futuristic all carbon fiber time trial bike with front and rear aerodynamic fairings. We will also be showcasing mechanisms from previous years’ vehicles. “