CAGIS Virtual Past Events 2020-2021 - Canadian Association for Girls In Science (CAGIS)

CAGIS Virtual
Past Events (2020-2021)

Saturday June 5 – STEM-Tastic Experiments from the CAGIS Teen Ambassadors

We know you LOVE doing experiments! Well, this session is full of them! In this totally hands-on event, led by our own CAGIS Teen Ambassadors, you’ll participate in an engineering challenge to design a buoyant foil boat, test your own sense of taste, and make a DIY lava lamp. Let’s welcome summer with these STEM-tastic experiments!

Preparation: Engineering Challenge: 1 sheet of aluminum foil that is 30 cm x 45 cm, a container like a sink, tub or bucket to float your boat in about 40 cm of water, approximately 50 coins or marbles or other items that may be used as weights. Food colouring (optional). Serial Dilution: 4 cups with 60mL (that’s 1/4 cup) of water in each, 1 teaspoon of sugar, paper towel, 1 tablespoon measure. Lava Lamp: baking soda, cold water, cooking oil, food coloring, lemon juice or vinegar, clear container with cap or lid for the lava lamp, a tablespoon or teaspoon.

Experts: CAGIS Teen Ambassadors

Saturday May 29 – Build a Solar Oven

Every hour, the Earth receives enough energy from the Sun to power 2880 TRILLION lightbulbs! To put it another way, every day, the Sun provides 35,000 times the total amount of energy humans currently consume. We can capture this solar energy by converting it to electricity or using the sunlight’s warmth for heating. With just a few household items, we will build our own solar oven, which can be used to make s’mores, nachos, and more!

Preparation: Cardboard box (preferably pizza box), aluminum foil, aluminum dish/roasting pan (or more foil), plastic wrap, glass bowl, tape, glue, ruler, scissors, pen or pencil, black paper. If you want to make s’mores, you’ll need these ingredients: graham crackers, chocolate, and marshmallows.

Expert: Engineers from the University of Toronto’s Blue Sky Solar Racing Club.

BONUS FREE SESSION: Sunday May 23 – Coding in Python with ImagiLabs

Reveal your coding superpowers in this session with imagiLabs! They’ve created a smart accessory charm with a pixel matrix that can be coded using Python. We will use the imagiLabs Learning Hub to create cool animations on a charm emulator! Let’s get coding! No coding experience necessary. If you’ve done a session with imagiLabs before, you’re still welcome to join in and challenge yourself with more complex projects.

This special event is free and open to all, but pre-registration is required.

Preparation: we recommend joining the Zoom call on your computer or Chromebook, and using a mobile device for coding. Download the imagiLabs app on the App Store or Google Play if you have a mobile device. If you don’t, you can code using the website version. In either case, before the session, create your free account and make note of your login name and password.

Experts: ImagiMentors, Lisa and Agota, from imagiLabs.

Saturday May 22 – Enter the Space Lab

Astronauts may spend days, weeks, or even months in space. How does this affect their bodies? Scientists are still studying the health impacts. Team TelOmG – a group of aerospace and biology students – has been chosen to run experiments in microgravity to study how space travel might affect DNA. In this session, they’ll lead us through our own experiment design challenge! Join us and be part of a space science team for the day!

Preparation:

Experiment 1: A bottle, water, a piece of gauze or a thin cloth, rubber band.

Experiment 2: One small ball and one large ball, or two identical containers with lids that could safely be dropped (eg. small plastic food containers, empty plastic water bottles). Marbles, coins, or other small items that could fit in the container.

Expert: Members of TelOmG, a team that was selected by the Canadian Reduced Gravity Experiment Design Challenge to run experiments on a parabolic flight in August 2021.

Saturday May 15 – Get Electrified!

Did you know that electricity travels at the speed of light? That’s about 300,000 kilometers per second! So how do electrical engineers, technicians and tradespeople harness it for our homes and devices? When you understand electricity, you can begin to work with it safely. Together, we’ll learn about voltage, current, circuits and more, and try out our own electrical experiment.

Preparation: 6 to 8 LEDs, 4 ft or more of copper tape, paper or cardboard, coin cell battery (2032 type)

Expert: Dee and Maya from Conestoga College’s Electrical Technician program.

Saturday May 8 – Elephant Toothpaste and Chemical Reactions

How do elephants keep cool in the summer? EAR-conditioning!

How do you know if there’s an elephant in your refrigerator? Footprints in the pizza!
How do elephants brush their teeth? Let’s have a chemist answer that one…

In this session, we’ll be whipping up our own batches of colourful elephant toothpaste. It’s not really meant for brushing your teeth. Rather, it is an impressive chemical reaction that creates a foaming substance that just looks like a gigantic squirt of toothpaste. But why does it happen so quickly and dramatically? All thanks to the catalyst. In chemistry, a catalyst is a substance that speeds up a reaction, making it occur up to millions of times faster! Catalysts are used everywhere — in food production, washing clothes, and even within our own cells! Let’s learn more together about why chemists LOVE catalysts.

Preparation: empty plastic bottle or jar, baking yeast, warm water, liquid dish detergent, 3% or higher hydrogen peroxide, measuring cups/spoons, large tub or tray to catch the foam, liquid food colouring. Safety glasses or sunglasses recommended. Caution: This activity can produce a surprising amount of foam! Make sure you set up your workspace accordingly, and ensure your computer/device will not get wet.

Expert: Dr. Erin McConnell, completed her PhD in Chemistry at Carleton University, and is currently a post-doctoral fellow at McMaster University, where she received the NSERC and L’Oreal-UNESCO For Women in Science Award.

Saturday May 1 – Gardening from Table Scraps

Next time you’re about to toss vegetable scraps into the compost bin — stop! Some of the pieces we throw away can be used to grow a new plant! At this session, we’ll tackle a project that can help you save money, cut down on food waste, and develop a green thumb. Learn techniques to identify which plants you can regrow, and how to help them thrive in your own kitchen garden.

Preparation: For our first activity, you will need a container for growing your food, soil, and water, a clear plastic cup or pop bottle (optional), and one or more food scraps. Choices include carrot tops, celery crown, green onion base, potatoes, pineapple crown, garlic, ginger root, lettuce crown. For our second activity, you’ll need another jar with a lid, and some kitchen waste (eg. eggshells, coffee grounds, inside of tea bags, vegetable or fruit cuttings). No dairy or meat.

Expert: Sara Stricker is a plant scientist and PhD candidate at the Ontario Agricultural College at the University of Guelph. She studies plant pathology – diseases that harm plants – and how to defend against them.

Saturday April 24 – Liquid Rainbows and Non-Newtonian Fluids

What can change its shape to fit any container, squeeze into the narrowest places, and even defy gravity? If you said a liquid, you are right! In this session, we will explore the amazing properties of fluids. We will stack colourful liquids in a jar to make a rainbow. Then, mix a gooey batch of oobleck to learn more about non-Newtonian fluids and why viscosity matters to research and development chemists when designing a new lotion or shampoo.

Preparation: For our first activity, you will need a clear jar, five cups, 2-4 colours of food colouring, and 50-100mL of each of the following: honey, dish soap, water, olive oil, and rubbing alcohol. For our second activity, you will need a bowl, 1 cup corn starch, and water.

Expert: Lexie Griffith is a chemist whose work involves formulating cosmetics and personal care products.

Saturday April 17 – Start Your Engines: Motive Power

If you haven’t heard of Bertha Benz, you may recognize the name of the car company she helped pioneer: Mercedes Benz. Women have made incredible contributions to the automotive industry, such as helping develop improvements to braking systems and heating systems, and inventing windshield wipers and turn signals. Learn about opportunities in trades and develop your mechanical skills with a fun hands-on activity. We’ll be building our own rubber band powered model car!

Preparation: Click here for a list of materials

Expert: Morgan from Conestoga College’s Motive Power Program.

Saturday April 10 – Foldable Flyers: Making the Ultimate Paper Airplane

Did you know that paper airplanes were around for decades before the first motor-powered flight in 1903? Early engineers actually tested their plane designs with paper prototypes. In this hands-on, high-flying session, earn your wings with an aerospace engineer and pilot who will teach you how to use the four principles of aerodynamics to create a paper airplane that soars. The world record for a paper airplane flight is 69.14 meters in distance — about the length of three school gymnasiums! How far will your plane go?

Preparation: paper, paper clips, tape.

Expert: Erin Richardson, from the University of Toronto’s aerospace engineering program.

Saturday April 3 – Follow your Heart

Your heart is one hard-working organ, pumping over 6000L of blood each year! You can learn more about your cardiovascular health by observing your heart’s response to exercise. In this session, you will discover different ways to take your pulse, and do a personal experiment to learn your own resting and recommended maximum heart rates. Let’s have a heart-to-heart about hearts!

Preparation: clay, toothpick, pencil and paper. Optional: Two very large bowls, one filled with 5L of water, and one regular cup/measuring cup.

Expert: Emily Aguiar is a Registered Practical Nurse employed with Carecor Health Services.

Saturday March 27 – Bubble-ology

How big can bubbles get? In 2007, a man named Sam Heath (“Sam the Bubble Man”) was able to fit nineteen people inside a single bubble — a world record! In this session, we’re going to make lots of bubbles –big and small — and look at them with a scientist’s perspective. You’ll become bubble experts and learn about ‘thin films’, an important concept in chemistry.

Preparation: You’ll need homemade bubble solution, best prepared at least one day in advance. It contains 1 cup of water (240 mL), 2 tablespoons of dish soap (30 mL) and 1 tablespoon of sugar (15 mL). If you would like to experiment with two different bubble solutions, you can try making a second batch using the same recipe, but with an additional 1 tablespoon of glycerin.

Other materials: pair of gloves (optional), small bubble wand, pipette, or straw, black paper, container for bubble solution (a clean, flat foam lunch or deli tray is great!), straws, string, scissors.

Experts: Karla, Mehrin, Brittney and Melissa from the Knowles Group, University of Rochester.

Saturday March 20 – Coding in Python with ImagiLabs

Preparation: We recommend joining the Zoom call on your computer or chromebook, and using a mobile device for coding. Download the imagiLabs app on the App Store or Google Play if you have a mobile device. If you don’t, you can code using the website version. In either case, before the session, create your free account and make note of your login name and password.

Experts: ImagiMentors, Lisa and Agota, from imagiLabs.

Saturday March 13 – Impact Craters

When objects in space collide, they leave tell-tale scars. Impact craters are the most common landform in the solar system and they range from microscopically small to thousands of kilometers wide. Each one tells a story about the history of our universe, if you look at them like a scientist! In this session, we’ll hear from an expert on craters, learn exactly how they’re formed, and create some model space collisions at home.

Preparation: a large saucepan, bucket or container (a foil lasagna pan works especially well), flour, sieve, cocoa, ruler, newspaper, items to simulate 2 or 3 different meteors (eg. tennis ball, marble, ball of play-doh, bouncy ball.)

Expert: Tabetha Sheppard from the Institute for Earth and Space Exploration, Western University.

Saturday March 6 – Mind-Boggling Paper Folding

Flexagons are paper polygons that have a fascinating secret. When you “flex” them, you can reveal their hidden sides! In this session, we’ll construct our own hexaflexagons, learn how mathematicians use something called graph theory to map the paths between sides, and find some surprising connections to computer networks. This is math as you’ve never done it before.

Preparation: paper, scissors, tape, coloured markers/pencil crayons.

Expert: Maggie MacPhee has a degree in Mathematics with a focus on Graph Theory.

Saturday February 27 – Physics Magic. DO Try this at Home!

Explore physics concepts with simple household items! From spinning eggs to electrified sticky tape, we’ll learn how to perform and explain some physics magic tricks to amaze your friends! We will discuss the law of inertia, Bernoulli’s principle, light refraction, and more. It’s not magic — it’s physics!

Preparation: boiled egg (cooled), raw egg, two balloons, paper, tissue paper, plastic comb, sticky tape, pen, glass of water.

Expert: Prarthana Pasricha is completing a Masters degree in Medical Physics at Laurentian University.

Saturday February 20 – Your Amazing Skeleton

Did you know that the adult body has 206 bones? Fifty-four of them are in our hands and wrists! If you’ve ever seen a skeleton or fossil in a museum, you might think that all bones are dead, but your skeleton is a living, active part of your body. In fact, all of your blood cells are manufactured inside your bones. In this session, we will build our our model hands with bones and ligaments, learn more about the surprising composition of bones, and learn how biomedical engineers design solutions for patients who have injured a bone.

Preparation: String, tape, paper or construction paper, scissors, 8 or more straws (paper or plastic). If you don’t have straws, we can demonstrate how to roll strips of paper to make straws, but store bought ones would be preferable.

Expert: Dr. Adele Changoor received her Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from École Polytechnique Montréal, and works at the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute.

Saturday February 13 – The Science of Chocolate

Did you know that every Valentine’s Day, over 58 million pounds of chocolate are purchased around the world including 36 million heart-shaped chocolate boxes! Nine out of ten of us say we love chocolate, but have you ever wondered about the science behind this delicious treat? What is its active ingredient? What is the difference between chocolate, cocoa, and cacao? Is it true that chocolate is poisonous for dogs? Learn the answers to these questions and more, and try making your own chocolate-flavoured treat at home during this very tasty session.

Preparation: Two or more squares of semi-sweet chocolate, or about eight semi-sweet chocolate chips, a pack of chocolate chips, three to five things to mix in of your choice, eg. nuts, dried fruit, pretzels, popcorn, gummies, sour keys. One of the following: Loaf pan or small glass baking pan or silicone ice cube tray. Additional fun options: sprinkles, white chocolate, crushed mints/candy canes.

Expert: Bonnie Douglas is a food engineer. While she has spent most of her working life working in an ice cream factory, she also spent some time working in a cookie factory. She also made the world’s tallest ice cream cone!

Saturday February 6 – Send your Code to Space!

We’re participating in the European Space Agency’s Astro Pi Challenge! Learn to code a simple program that takes a humidity reading on the International Space Station. Then, customize it with a personalized message for the astronauts on board. The programs of participants aged 14 and younger will actually be run in space! At the end, receive a certificate showing where exactly the ISS was when your program ran.

Preparation: The coding can be done in a web browser. To participate, you will need a computer with an internet connection (not a tablet or mobile device).

Expert: Chimira Andres works for the European Space Agency. She completed a M.Sc. in Geophysics and Planetary Science at Western University and is also the President of SEDS Canada, a not-for-profit student space organization.

Saturday January 30 – Chromatography Tie Dye

Have you ever spilled water on a newspaper? Did you notice that the ink runs and spreads on the page? In this session, we will learn about ink solubility and a laboratory technique called chromatography, which allows you to separate a mixture. Then, we will explore the technique by making a colourful chromatography tie dye project. Join us for some creative chemistry!

Preparation: a few rubber bands, 2-5 plastic cups, a colourful assortment of permanent markers (dollar store ones work well), an eyedropper, 70% or higher isopropyl alcohol (rubbing alcohol), white fabric that can be dyed (eg. t-shirt). You will also want to protect your workspace.

Expert: Carine Nemr is completing her PhD in Chemistry at the University of Toronto.

Saturday January 23 – Renewable Energy. Clean Tech for the Future

You have heard of renewable energy… but what is it, exactly? How do you know if the energy you use is renewable or not? What does an environmental engineer do? How can green energy help us move toward a low-carbon future? Explore these questions and build your own renewable energy powered creations at home!

Preparation: two paper, plastic, or styrofoam cups (paper or styrofoam is preferred), one long wooden skewer, one push pin OR single hole punch, sticky tack (nice to have, but optional), tape, scissors, pencil, ruler, string, paper clip.

Experts: McMaster’s Women in Engineering Society.

Saturday January 16 – Go with your Gut

They say you are what you eat, but have you ever thought about how your body digests food and turns it into energy? Make your own working stethoscope, and use it to learn about the gastrointestinal system and how doctors observe a healthy digestive tract.

Preparation: two funnels, 60 cm or 24 inches of flexible vinyl or plastic tubing (found at hardware stores; the narrow end of the funnel should fit inside the tubing), tape, two or more balloons, scissors.

If you can’t find tubing or funnels, a simpler stethoscope can be made with the cardboard tube from a toilet paper roll or paper towel roll, thick paper (eg. construction paper, cardstock), tape, scissors. However, the tubing and funnel design is preferred and will produce a better sound.

Expert: Dr. Aze Wilson is a clinical gastroenterologist and an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Western University.

Saturday December 5 – a STEM Escape (Bonus event)

You’re attending a CAGIS event on biotechnology when the event host asks you and some friends to get some supplies from the storage room. You walk into the room, the door closes and locks behind you. You’re stuck! You walk further and find that you’re suddenly in the middle of a forest, in a magical, winter wonderland. Where are you? How did you get there? How do you get back? Use clues and your knowledge of science, technology, trades, engineering, and maths (STEM) to figure out the mystery and find your way back!

This is a bonus event organized by the CAGIS Teen Ambassadors.

Preparation: no preparation necessary

Saturday November 28 – Soap, Shampoo, and Cosmetic Chemistry

You wash your hands every day, but are all soaps created equally? Do some clean better than others? Did you know that there is a difference between soap and detergent?

We will be conducting a cosmetic chemistry experiment to test the performance of the soaps, shampoos, and detergents you have at home!

Preparation: Check back for a list of materials

Expert: Lexie Griffith is a chemist whose work involves formulating cosmetics and personal care products.

Saturday November 21 – Minerals and Mining

What do you picture when you think of mining? Diamonds? Rubies? Gold? But what about … toothpaste?! Before your toothpaste makes it to your toothbrush, the ingredients are extracted from the ground; your toothpaste started out looking like a pile of rocks!

In this session, we will be making our own toothpaste at home and learning about other every day materials that use minerals from mines.

Preparation: Click here for a list of materials.

Expert: STEM professionals from Mining Matters, an organization that educates young people about Earth sciences and the minerals industry will be leading the session.

Saturday November 7 – Animal Behaviour with Anne Dagg, the World’s First Giraffologist

Anne Innis Dagg is the world’s first giraffologist. As a young woman, she travelled to Africa and studied giraffes in the wild. She published her work in some of the world’s top scientific journals. Despite her impressive accomplishments, she faced challenges and found the doors of science closed because she was a woman. Now, 50 years later, she is back in the world of giraffology, the field of science she started! You will have the opportunity to watch the documentary film about Dr. Dagg before the session.

This session will be a Q&A with Anne Dagg and filmmaker Alison Reid. It is open to all ages, but CAGIS members will receive question priority.

Preparation (optional): Watch The Woman Who Loves Giraffes, the movie about Anne Innis Dagg. You will receive a link to watch the film before the session.

Saturday November 7 – Animal Behaviour with Anne Dagg, the World’s First Giraffologist

Anne Dagg is the world’s first giraffologist. As a young woman, she travelled to Africa and studied giraffes in the wild. She did extensive research, took notes, measurements, photographs, and videos, and published the main textbook about giraffes that is still used today! In this session, Dr. Dagg will be teaching animal observation skills so you too, can do your own animal observation.

Preparation (optional): Watch The Woman Who Loves Giraffes, the movie about Anne Dagg. You will receive a link to watch the film before the session.

Saturday October 31 – Halloween, Chemistry, and Glow in the Dark Slime!

It’s Halloween, the lights are low, and all you’ll see are things that glow.

In this session, we will be making glow in the dark SLIME and learning the chemistry of phosphorescence and all things glow-in-the-dark!

Preparation: Click here for a list of materials. Wear your Halloween costume. Prize for best costume in each session!

Expert: Dr. Erin McConnell, completed her PhD in Chemistry at Carleton University, and is currently a post-doctoral fellow at McMaster University, where she received the NSERC and L’Oreal-UNESCO For Women in Science Award.

Saturday October 24 – Mobile App Development

What is your favourite app? Instagram? Tik Tok? Snap chat? Have you ever thought about how the apps are made? In this session we will learn how to make our own basic applications, or apps for short.

Preparation: You will receive an email with preparation instructions. You may need to download software in advance.

Expert: Janelle Hinds has been called the Mobile App Queen! Janelle, who was featured on Forbes’s 2020 Top 30 under 30 list in Education, graduated from McMaster University with a Biomedical and Electrical Engineering degree, and is the Founder of the Helping Hands App, which connects the non-profit sector with willing volunteers.

Saturday October 17 – Fantastic Fungus!

Have you ever eaten fungus? Have you ever eaten a mushroom? Well, mushrooms are a type of fungus, so if you have eaten a mushroom, you have eaten fungus! In this session we will be going on a virtual walk with plant scientist Sara Stricker to learn about different kinds of fungus like mushrooms, black spot, and more! We will then break into groups to do an activity that will allow us to see the spores associated with fungus.

Preparation: You will need mushrooms from the grocery store and white paper. Participants in the younger session will need one or more balloons, one or more sheets of tissue paper, water. Participants in the older session will need baking yeast, three bottles with narrow openings like a disposable water bottle (identical bottles if possible), 200 ml warm water, and one or more of the following: sugar, pancake syrup, or honey.

Expert: Sara Stricker is a plant scientist and PhD candidate at the Ontario Agricultural College at the University of Guelph. She studies plant pathology – diseases that harm plants – and how to defend against them.

Saturday October 3 – DNA extraction at Home!

What colour are your eyes? What colour is your hair? You look the way you do because of the genes you inherited from your parents. Genes are microscopic and carry information about how living things look and function. Genes are made of DNA, which is short for deoxyribonucleic acid.

In this session, we will be doing DNA extraction, a procedure scientists use to isolate DNA from the nucleus, or centre, of cells. Extracting DNA can help study the genetic causes of diseases, find strains of crops that are resistant to certain pests, and more. We will each be extracting DNA from a strawberry with materials you can find at home, and learning about biotechnology and genetic engineering from Julie Legault.

Preparation: Click here for a list of materials

Expert: Julie Legault is the Founder and CEO of Amino Labs, and co-author of Zero to Genetic Engineering Hero: The Beginners Guide to Programming Bacteria at Home.

Saturday September 26 – All About Trees

Did you know that being in nature provides a calming sensation, lowers heart rate, respiration rate, and stress?

Great, but how do you tell which tree is which? There’s a science to it! Dr. Janani Sivarajah will be teaching us the science of classifying trees. We will split into groups and go through the steps scientists follow to identify trees.

Preparation: Take some pictures of trees in your neighbourhood and bring them to the session so we can identify them together.

Expert: Dr. Janani Sivarajah is an urban forest ecology and plant biology researcher! She is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Environmental Sustainability Research Centre, Brock University and Vineland Research and Innovation Centre, lectures at the Department of Forestry, University of Toronto, and is a Research Associate at the Department of Architectural Science, Ryerson University.