Posted on April 2: Bay Area Science and Engineering Fair students explore science at McMaster
More than 150 elementary and secondary students from the Bay Area will be at McMaster today learning about chemicals, stars, brains and fats.
Four of the 23 activities planned for the annual Bay Area Science and Engineering Fair Activity Day will take place at McMaster. This afternoon, students between Grade 7 and 12 will be on campus to learn about chemistry, astrology, psychology and biochemistry. Other activities will take place throughout the Bay Area, including Hamilton, Ancaster, Dundas, Stoney Creek, Burlington, Oakville and Milton.
In a session entitled “Let's Get Chemical” Pippa Lock, assistant chemistry professor, will tour students through McMaster's new state-of-the-art laboratory facilities where they will conduct chemistry experiments and demonstrations.
In “Calling All Stargazers”, Daphne Kilgour, in McMaster's Department of Physics and Astronomy, will teach students about constellations, including the dippers and North Star, as well as currently visible planets, and daily motions due to Earth's rotation. Students also will travel to other galaxies starting with the Solar System and extending to external galaxies through a planetarium show.
Psychology professor Alison Sekular will host a session called, “Psychology: It's your brain!” In this session, students will explore brain and behavioural science and participate in activities and tours of several labs to see how researchers in psychology understand how we see, hear and think. Students will try to judge who's the 'top fish in the tank', see brain waves in action and will experience a virtual bike ride. A 'Brain Bee' will top off the activities.
In “The Fats of Life” session with Michelle MacDonald, assistant professor and undergraduate co-ordinator in the Department of Biochemistry, students will visit a biochemistry laboratory to learn about how much fat is in certain foods. Students will extract fat from a variety of different snack foods and compare the total fat content to how each food tastes.
Engineering student Amanda Smith will host “What Goes Up, Must Come Down”. In this project, students will learn about the law of conservation of energy and the different forms of energy that roller coasters use.
The 2004 BASEF takes place from March 31 through April 3rd at Mohawk College of Applied Arts & Technology. Last year, McMaster hosted the fair. Click here for further information.
