Tag Archives: Science

STEM Fun!

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In Girl Guides, one of the badges that all branches can work on is the “Science Lab” badge. There are so many fun things that girls can do to learn about STEM!

Recently, SFU Outreach visited the 56th Burnaby Mountain Guide Unit to talk all about engineering and to make bath bombs! The Guides first learned about all of the different types of engineers that there are – including chemical engineers, mechanical engineers, and civil engineers. It was then time for the group to become engineers themselves, but first, they did an activity to learn all about the scientific process.

Once they had learned about the scientific process, it was time to make bath bombs! Each Guide got to choose the colour and scent of their bath bomb, and each one turned out very unique.

Thank you very much to SFU Outreach for taking the time to visit the Guides and put together such a fun activity! We loved learning about STEM.

Physics & Astronomy Sleepover

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The 2nd Sparks and 47th Brownies recently had an awesome science-themed sleepover with activities facilitated by volunteers from the UBC Department of Physics and Astronomy.

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They learned about light and electricity and fulfilled a part of the Experiment and Create program area!

One highlight was the experiment using special spectrum glasses. The foil in the spectrum glasses breaks the light into its different visible electromagnetic waves creating a continuous rainbow of colours when they look at their flashlight or any light source around them.

The girls got to talk about what electricity is and then each Spark and Brownie built a flash light using a breadboard, a switch, an LED light, wires, and a battery. Each girl got to take home their LED flashlight at spectrum glasses.

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The girls really enjoyed the activity and had a great time with the UBC volunteers. After the volunteers left, girls watched a movies and got some sleep. It was a great night!

 

Sparks Making Friends with Critters

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Last night the 1st Burnaby Mountain Sparks got to practice the part of their promise that tells them to “be a friend” — with awesome animals! The group welcomed a special guest, Mike (from Mike’s Critters), who brought with him lots of critters for the girls to touch, hold, and learn about.

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The first animal was a chinchilla, which is the world’s softest animal. Her fur was soooo soft to touch! Everyone got the chance to touch her, and some even got to hold her. It was a very exciting start to the presentation.

Other animal guests included a chameleon, a turtle, a hedgehog, and a bunny. There were even some kind of scary animals: a tarantula and a snake! But every animal was very friendly and safe to be around. Mike did a great job of teaching the girls cool things about every single animal that he presented. They learned what kinds of food the animals eat, what kind of environment they live in, how they stay safe from predators, and other interesting facts.

The girls also showed great interest and critical thinking skills when they asked some really good questions. One girl asked why the chameleon has a big ridge on his head (answer: to collect morning dew so it can flow into his mouth) and another wanted to know why the chinchilla had whiskers (answer: so it it can tell if a hole in a cave or tree is big enough to climb into safely).

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It was a really fun day and everyone — even the leaders! — learned a lot. Thank you, Mike, for bringing your awesome critters to our Sparks meeting.

Awesome Science Guest Speakers

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In Burnaby Mountain District we are lucky enough to have access to lots of great guest speakers who are available to come in to speak to our girls about Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM). With close access to universities, museums, and other programs, we are fortunate enough to have lots of ways to expose our girls to these exciting subjects.

Recently the girls in the 24th Brownies applied to a Science World’s program where they send a professional scientist to your group. They had a chemist named Allyssa, who develops colours and formulas for gel nail polish for a living, volunteer to do a presentation on polymers for the girls.

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She started off with a bang, lighting some powders on fire. Next she did a trick where she poured some water into one of three cups, moved them around and had the girls tell her which one the water was in. When they were sure, she dumped the cup over her head, and nothing came out – and tried this with all three. Of course, she hadn’t disclosed that there was a polymer in the cup with the water, which absorbed the water and turned into into a spongy substance. Then she made fake snow, and lastly gave the girls these squishy little balls called Orbeez. Of course she briefly explained the science behind her demonstrations. The girls really enjoyed her presentation.

And this week, in the University Highlands Guiding group, the unit got a presentation from Let’s Talk Science, the same group that organized our District Science Day last year. For this unit of mixed Brownies and Guides, the SFU scientists led the girls in an activity where they got to extract DNA from strawberries! The hands-on learning was a great way to show the girls the science that exists around us every single day.

An important part of our programming STEM is always a hit with our girls. Stay tuned throughout the year for more examples of how girls learn all about the world around them and how this knowledge and these skills can be applied in on-going passions and careers.

 

Skulls on Tour visits Highlands

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This week, the girls in the University Highlands Guiding Unit were thrilled to welcome a very special guest speaker to their meeting. The presenter’s name is Yvonne and her program is called Skulls on Tour. She has a large collection of natural science specimens including… you guessed it: skulls!

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In addition to the scientific learning opportunity the specimens provide, she talked about what it’s like to have a serious collection/hobby, and spoke about the community of other collectors that she’s become a part of. The girls and leaders found it informative on several levels.

The girls were very interested in checking out Yvonne’s collection. They got to get pretty close and even handle some of the specimens. It was a really neat chance to learn about animal physiology.

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Bones, horns, teeth, and fur were all included in the display. There was so much to look at, touch, and feel. Girls were very engaged and asked lots of questions. It was fascinating! Guest speakers are such a fun way to bring something new to a regular unit meeting.

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Yvonne is a Sparks leader in Vancouver and can customize her talk for any age group. For more information, or to inquire about booking Skulls on Tour for your own unit, check out her facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/skullsandoddities/.

District Science Day at SFU

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Last weekend Burnaby Mountain District partnered with SFU Let’s Talk Science to hold an all-ages interactive Science Day at Simon Fraser University!

Enthusiastic university volunteers led the girls through a variety of activities and demonstrations touching on several disciplines within STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math). Girls got to work together to try hands on science activities and had a lot of fun.

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Sparks learned about good bacteria and bad bacteria and got to to design their own cute bacteria buddies. They also learned about weather and clouds.

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Brownies enjoyed dissecting owl pellets to reassemble whole rodent skeletons — they thought it was a little bit gross, but really cool! They also explored physics by designing bottle-propelled rockets that they got to launch for an audience of Sparks.

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Guides and older girls tackled environmental science, considering problems like how oil spills and water pollution can be safely cleaned. They also rocked out with a variety of lasers, using problem solving skills to power high tech gadgets.

Over all it was a really educational and entertaining day. Girl Guides prides itself on being able to offer girls the chance to try new things, especially by helping them develop interest in areas like STEM where women are underrepresented in the professional fields. Thank you to Let’s Talk Science for hosting us!   We in Burnaby Mountain are very lucky to have SFU situated conveniently in our district. Many of our Guiders are SFU students and it is always great to take advantage of the opportunities that having a world class university in our district has to offer!

Brownies tackle STEM

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One of the most popular program areas with our girls is STEM — Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. Getting the chance to explore these fascinating disciplines with hands-on activities in a really fun and girl-centred environment is a real a treat.

This year, the 54th Brownies have been going crazy with STEM. The girls just can’t get enough. Back in January, the unit had a blast at the West Coast Area Science World Sleepover.

They have also spent a bunch of time over a selection of meetings this winter and spring, exploring STEM topics to earn their Provincial STEM challenge crests. Check out these images from some of those meetings.

Some of the activities that they have tried include discovering ways to check whether an egg is raw or hard boiled, making music with water in stemware, studying fizzy water vs regular water under black light and then making their own Sparkling lemonade! Yum!! They have also learned about cyber safety, taken cellphones apart to get a look at the inside and made their own computers. And exploring engineering has given them the chance to build tall towers and to design shelters to keep their favourite stuffed critters safe from the elements.

Believe it or not, they’re not done yet! The 54th Brownies look forward to joining all the rest of the Burnaby Mountain girls at our next big district event: Science Day at SFU! At the end of April, girls of all branches will get a chance to explore science in real science labs with real science students. As you can imagine, these girls in particular are really excited about it!

Brownies take over Science World

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UPDATE: We’ve added a few more photos to this post as another one of the leaders sent some in and we just had to share. Enjoy! – Feb 9, 2016.

This weekend more than 400 Brownies and their leaders from all around West Coast Area gathered at Science World in Vancouver for an overnight event of fun, friendship, and science! Our 54th Burnaby Mountain Brownies were thrilled to be part of the excitement.

Highlights of the night included an Omnimax movie about Humpback Whales, an engineering demo and experiment time with KEVA planks, science shows, and exploring all the great exhibits with hundreds of other Brownies. trex

Sleeping among the exhibits is one of the coolest parts of this sleepover. Our Brownies got to sleep in a most exciting spot: next to the hollowed out tree and right next to Mr. T-Rex!

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The KEVA blocks were a really cool way to learn about building and engineering in a hands on way. The science world staff had girls help knock down a giant KEVA tower and girls had plenty of time to build their own creations.

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Towers are great to build with friends — a great tower can be built with great teamwork. Alternatively, some girls decided to get creative and build animals with the KEVA blocks, including some who made meerkats!

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The event wasn’t all about science — girls got in some classic Girl Guide fun, including a huge campfire in the omnimax theatre, made extra exciting with the use of glow sticks. Brownies love singing in big groups like this.

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The science exhibits in the galleries are always a lot of fun. Science World is a great place for hands-on learning. Here are some girls trying their hand at working a flying machine.

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Science shows are always a lot of fun. Demonstrations are a great way to learn new things. And its always fun to hang out with friends in the audience.

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Thank you to all the Guiders who worked hard to plan and execute an event of this size. These girls had a blast. Thank you as well to all of the wonderful Science World staff who made the event possible. Large scale sleepovers like this one with hundreds of Guiding friends are some of the memories that we make that last a lifetime.

Guides at the Biodiversity Museum

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Recently the girls of the 22nd Burnaby Mountain Guides took a Saturday morning to visit the Beatty Biodiversity Museum at the University of British Columbia. The unit rode transit from Burnaby out to UBC and then enjoyed a hands-on tour of the museum.

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The wonderful museum staff had prepared a session for them focussing on birds. It was very interesting. Girls got to handle actual biodiversity artefacts and and learn about birds in a variety of ways. The Feathered Friends module is described as follows: Are you bonkers for birds? Learn the basics of bird watching by discovering how body shape, colouration, behaviour and sound can be used to find out more about the birds around us.

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The pictures shown are the girls posing with the museum’s impressive 26 meter long blue whale skeleton. Very cool!

It is always exciting to get our girls out in the community — especially onto university campuses! — to learn about things they didn’t know in ways that may not have occured to them. STEM Programing (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) is a wonderfully enriching part of our program and the girls love it!