Grade School Students Talk Science At UWindsor

Some elementary school students had a fun science day at the University of Windsor - the best turnout for Let's Talk Science, yet.

That's according to UWindsor Science Coordinator Michelle Bondy - she sat down with AM800's Patty Handysides on The Afternoon News.

Bondy says the event is part orientation, part competition, part education, and all about showing kids how fun science can be.

While there are tons of extra-curricular activities for budding athletes and for kids to just be social, Bondy says Let's Talk Science fills an underserved demographic.

"This is an opportunity for them to share something that they love with other students and the teachers like it as an enrichment opportunity as well - another way to challenge their students throughout the curriculum," she says.

Keeping kids excited about science at a young age is important, she added.

"Unfortunately when they get to Grade 10 they're able to not select sciences for their Grade 11 and 12 courses and that's a shame," says Bondy. "We want to encourage them to keep taking sciences throughout their high school and hopefully study it at the post-secondary level as well."

She says it's also a day to break down stereotypes.

"Meet some of our undergraduate students who are studying science and see how many different types of areas they can go into," she says. "They also get to recognize that science is a social thing, it's not something that you have to be hidden away in a lab doing, you can be talking with other people and interacting with other people and I think that attracts the students as well."

The national Let's Talk Science Outreach program is offered free of charge with more than 3,500 post-secondary student volunteers taking part at over 40 post-secondary Outreach sites across Canada every year.

— with files from AM800's Patty Handysides