EducAir

What can you expect from our visit?

Every school visit is different, as we talk to the teacher and attempt to adjust our presentations to make them as relevant, interesting, and engaging to the students as possible. However, you can expect a few things to happen for sure: Engaging science demonstrations that use state of the art equipment rarely available at K-12 schools and relevant to BC STEM curriculum; discussions on modern science; explorations of careers and educational path in STEM-related fields and much-much more. As Dr. Marina is a STEM educator who works with future and practising teachers in BC, and Dr. Valery is a practising scientist and physics educator, we will make this school visit an unforgettable experience for you and your students. And since both of us are passionate about aviation, we will be more than happy to talk about it as well. Careers in aviation is a very interesting opportunity for young people, especially for the people who like STEM, travel, and want to help people.

EducAir STEM Visit 1: Carihi Secondary School, Campbell River, BC (Maty 3, 2023)

This was our first visit and we are grateful to Mr. Bill Deagle who invited us to visit his students. Despite the fact that we had to postpone the trip due to the snow in April and rather bad weather, we were able to reschedule. We came on May 3rd and Bill was at the airport to pick us up at 7:30 am.

It was a great start.  We were able to present to two different groups of Grade 11 and Grade 12 Physics students and a number of science students who were not in the Physics class joined the presentations as well. The students asked lots of interesting questions and discussed the science we showed with us. 

We were also happy to see that Valery's research presentation on the research he is currently doing in his lab was also of great interest to the students.

EducAir STEM Visit 3: Carihi Secondary School, Campbell River, BC (May 17, 2024)

This was our third big science visit and our second visit to this wonderful school and we enjoyed it even more. As always, we are grateful to Mr. Bill Deagle who invited us to visit his students once again. It is not always easy to plan these visits, as West Coast weather keeps changing on us. Yet, we made it happen on May 17th.  We came Bill was at the airport to pick us up and event texted us in advance to warn us about gusting winds at Campbell River.

It was a great visit and we enjoyed meeting the students and showing them the experiments. We also discussed science careers, and what it means to be a post-secondary student at a big university, like UBC.  The students asked lots of interesting questions and discussed the science we showed with us.  A small group even stayed longer to ask Valery about his research.

As a result of this visit, we are considering to organize a series of Zoom meetings to invite students to meet almost in person with the scientists, to ask them questions about their research, interesting topics, as well as science pathways.

EducAir STEM Visit 5: Chatelech Secondary School, Sechelt (May 21, 2024)

Unlike other communities we have visited, Sechelt is located less than 50 km from UBC if going direct. However, it is not as easy to do that as one might think. While the distance between Vancouver and Sechelt (which is located on the beautiful Sunshine Coast) is rather short, one has to take a ferry to get there and then drive to and from the ferry. Since the weather on May 21st wasn't conducive to flying, we had to take an alternative route to get there. However, it was all worth it as we could present to grade 10-12 students. We were also happy to have Chris Georgas join us, who is an educator, a pilot and a friend.  We were glad we could come there..

EducAir STEM Visit 2: LV Rogers Secondary School, Nelson, BC (May 11, 2023)

Our second visit was to Nelson, BC to visit LV Rogers Secondary School. We spent almost a day with the students doing science experiments on sound waves, resonance, and wave phenomena, as well as discussing modern science that is happening at the UBC physics lab of Dr. Milner. 

The students asked great questions and experienced doing science first hand, as they were able to see how a fast-speed camera of thousands of frames per second allows us to see and understand science phenomena. The students also saw standing waves with the Chladni Plates setup and experienced standing waves in a Chinese bowl. We are very grateful to Mrs. Angie McTague who invited us and to the administration of the school for such a warm welcome.

EducAir STEM Visit 4: Port Alberni Community Science Celebration (May 18, 2024)

Port Alberni is a beautiful town located on Vancouver Island. However, unlike Victoria or Nanaimo, it is rather remote as one has to get to Vancouver Island and then drive to Port Alberni for about an hour or so. Our friends at Science World invited us to take part in the Community Science Celebration organized by Michael Willers from North Island College (https://www.nic.bc.ca/;   https://www.nic.bc.ca/about-us/nic-news/news/science-world-pa-campus/) and supported by Science World - Scientists and Innovators in the Schools team and Science on the Road Team at the Vancouver Science World (https://www.scienceworld.ca/ontheroad/ ).  Since Port Alberni is a rather small town, we weren't sure how many people would even show up. To our surprise, the event drew hundreds of people and many of them spent a few hours with us exploring physics.  It was a truly family and community event, as we met many people from different walks of life, ages, and backgrounds. To see so much interest in science was very special.  We were glad we could come there.

What do students and teachers say?

Student feedback

- Very epic, definitely feeling inspired to pursue science. Great work guys! 10/10

-It was incredible seeing the demos they had brought, blew my mind a few times! 

-That was the coolest presentation I ever got to see on physics, I hope to see you guys again 🙂

-I've never seen anything like that before and I enjoyed watching very much! Thank you for your time.

Thank you so much for your time! I loved learning about what you guys are researching at UBC 🙂

Grade 11-12 Students LV Rogers Secondary School, Nelson, BC

Dear Mr. Deagle, please send back this short one-liner from me to Valery and his wife about their visit at our school. "Valery and his wife taught us an interesting lesson about their research at UBC that we would never have had in a regular class setting with our teacher. The lesson was well designed and covering many different scientific subjects. Valery was very skilled in explaining complex procedures on a high academic level, but still understandable for high school students.

I.B., Grade 12 Student Carihi Secondary School, Campbell River, BC
Teacher feedback

Marina and Valery are an incredible team! My students felt so smart after their visit and so excited to see how their learning was being applied to everyday situations. Their presentation was engaging and exciting. My students were thrilled they came!

 
Mrs. Angie McTague Physics Teacher, LV Rogers Secondary School, Nelson, BC