Creative Encounters with Science

Work Term 1

Position: STEM Instructor

Semester: Summer 2019

Location: University of Guelph

About Creative Encounters with Science


Creative Encounters with Science is a non-profit organization that aims to promote Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics among youth in and around the Guelph community. This impactful organization has been providing STEM content to thousands of students for over 26 years.

In the spring and summer months, C.E.S. runs in-school workshops, outreach programs and summer camps to provide youth with hands-on learning experiences from instructors and mentors. C.E.S. has a focus on providing specific initiatives such as Aboriginal Outreach, at-risk youth and an all girls program to Promote Awareness of Girls in Engineering and Science.

Throughout my time here, I focused my skills in computing to providing students with more technical skills through the application of computer science theories through hands on activities. I chose Creative Encounters with Science because I enjoy gaining new leadership experiences as well as using my technical knowledge to support and inspire youth.

My Creative Contributions

STEM Instructor

Overview:

During my time at Creative Encounters my responsibilities changed between the first and second half of the summer from designing camps camps to leading camps. During May and June, I was tasked with designing the CodeMakers 4-6 and PAGES camp by finding and creating new activities to fit into our weekly schedule while also delivering workshops to schools in the local community. When our summer day camps started in July and August, I was then responsible for teaching 10-20 campers the material from the camps the other instructors and myself created.

My Tasks

Leading Workshops:

  • Learn material across the various STEM disciplines
  • Update workshop write-ups to make them relevant
  • Work with fellow instructors to organize presentations
  • Coordinate material acquisition needed to lead our activities
  • Explain complex concepts to students from grades JK to 8
  • Prepare and deliver workshops to indigenous communities in the surrounding Parry Sound area

Designing Camps

  • Find new activities to teach campers material in a fun and interesting way
  • Manipulate previous computer science concepts taught in classes to lead activities for younger audiences
  • Create in-depth and descriptive write-ups for other instructors to follow and use in their camps
  • Test out activities to estimate level of success during camps
  • Acquire mentors from the community to give presentations throughout the camp
  • Taught myself how to use the game making software Construct 3 to create various types of video games

Leading Camps

  • Guide and teach a range of activities in the STEM field with a strong focus on technological concepts
  • Modify lessons to accommodate campers at various levels of experience
  • Work one-on-one with campers to support and guide them through the activities
  • Help campers troubleshoot various technologies such as Raspberry Pi’s, MicroBits, Ozobots, Lego EV3 and Lego Mindstorms
  • Instruct campers on how to use the block-based coding software Scratch as well as assist them in solving logical errors in their code
  • Discuss video game principles and concepts while supporting campers in making professional video games using the software Construct 3

My Goals

This goal was developed through my interest in the outreach programs we deliver to children in the indigenous communities in and around Perry Sound. For this trip, we participated in specific training to learn more about the indigenous culture including how they transfer knowledge and learn between generations. Throughout our workshops, in the communities, I remained mindful to their various learning styles to be able to adjust the lessons and frequently check in on how the material was received. During our first technical workshop on Christian Island, I wasn’t expecting the steep learning curve I ran into with the difference in their level of technical understanding when trying to build our Lego Mindstorm robots. I used our training to help give them different strategies to visualize how to create the robots and was flexible in adjusting how the workshop ran to allow them more time to create the robots depending on their level of success.
A large task I had in the spring was creating in-depth write-ups of each of my activities for the camps I designed to be submitted for health and safety but more importantly used by other instructors who were running these camps or others. With the level of diverse backgrounds that my coworkers come from it was important for them to be able to follow along with even my most technical write-ups and in turn, help the campers understand. I used straightforward language when explaining technical concepts and included screenshots or diagrams in the write-ups to show what certain code should look like. My write-ups were so in-depth and easy to follow along with that my co-workers even incorporated many of my technical activities into their camps like an intro to python, scratch basics and how to create a blog using HTML. 
Since our organization covered topics across all aspects of STEM many of the concepts required me to brush up on old science material or learn new technologies I have never learned before. Being able to understand the material and teach it to students for camps and workshops was a large part of my job. This gave me the chance to work with my other coworkers to learn more about their disciplines and new concepts I have never thought of before. 
One of my favourite parts of my job was being able to work in a team with other like-minded individuals to create programs and content we were all passionate about. With a group of people from such diverse backgrounds, it was interesting getting over the initial introductions but once we started to work together more we all clicked in the most amazing way. Being able to go out of my comfort zone and learn from my coworker's past experiences with camps or the different knowledge they had gained through their various majors was truly fantastic. Working as a team meant we all worked together to succeed whether it be teaching someone a new concept, practicing workshops with each other, getting advice and running activities with them or just having someone to support you at the end of a challenging camp day made all the difference in my success here at CES.  

Conclusion


Looking back after finishing my first co-op work term, I realize the importance of technology in our everyday life and the impact it will have on future generations. Being able to use what I am learning in Software Engineering to teach youth how to apply the same ideologies to their everyday life opened my eyes to the importance of what I am learning in school. My experience with Creative Encounters taught me things I never would have expected and changed the way I view my role as an individual in tech.