A partnership between a sociology prof, a chemistry prof and a junior high math teacher is finding new ways to bring STEM education to schools, helping young people see themselves as future university students and offering new opportunities for MacEwan undergrads.

"In sciences, we sometimes struggle – we have a lot of STEM outreach programming, but it often doesn’t reach the people that we want it to reach. And the people that can benefit most from it,” Dr. Kaitlyn Towle told MacEwan's Research Recast(ed) podcast.

Throughout the 2022/23 academic year, Dr. Emily Milne and Dr. Towle’s Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Arts student research assistants worked with students in Steven Campbell’s classes at Ben Calf Robe/St. Clare Elementary and Junior High School. 

Making learning fun and exciting took many forms over the course of the MacEwanCYU pilot – planting a garden, making DNA necklaces, churning homemade ice cream, using mugs with colour-changing paint and a solar and wind power competition. But perhaps the most memorable was a plastic kiddie pool filled with Oobleck. After sourcing 200 pounds of corn starch, Dr. Towle sent two of her independent research students from MacEwan with instructions to keep adding water and stirring it with hockey sticks until it reached the right consistency to make the non-newtonian fluid that is hard when pressure is applied and liquid when it’s removed. 

“The kids were helping and at the end all of us were covered from head to toe in corn starch,” laughs Campbell. It may have been messy, but the activity resonated. At the end of class, kids had pulled up their chairs, rolled up their pants and had their feet in the pool. They were dropping items in the goop to see what would happen, bringing other kids to touch it. The excitement trickled through the entire school, says Campbell. 

“There was so much laughter, they were having a good time, but there was secret learning happening too,” he says. 

And Campbell’s students weren’t the only ones learning. In addition to the research component of the project (Drs. Milne and Towle are using a qualitative research method called photovoice and community-based research approaches to examine barriers students face when turning an interest in science into a university education), MacEwan students learned a lot too.

The two MacEwan profs are building on the undergrad educational component with a community-service learning (COSL) course being offered in the Winter 2023 term. Open to all MacEwan students, the course offers a hands-on, experiential learning opportunity for students from all academic disciplines to craft interactive STEM workshops aimed at engaging junior high school students and local communities.

“It’s reciprocal learning,” says Towle. “We’re teaching our undergrads how to give workshops, and then they’re teaching the next generation.”

All MacEwan students interested in equitable education and STEM are encouraged to enrol. contact Dr. Towle or Dr. Milne for more information or to enrol. 

“Come play with us,” says Campbell. “It’ll be fun!” 

Hear more about the MacEwan Child and Youth University (MacEwanCYU) project in the lastest episode of Research Recast(ed), and read about it here.