Solstice and kids

Sorry everyone, there aren't any pictures (yet) associated with this post but I thought I'd share a pretty awesome day with you. The summer solstice is again upon us. This means that the sun is as far north as it will be all year and we are having our longest days (i.e. most hours of daylight). This is cause for celebration up here and is usually accompanied by a bonfire outside of the CNSC. Unfortunately, this year's solstice instead brought us some wet weather forcing a postponement of the bonfire. However, the sky was still a lovely shade of pink this evening and it is sure nice to have 8pm feel like 4pm.

But back to the great day. Today myself, Emily, Liz and Jinjing (fellow Guelph researchers) had the opportunity to visit a grade 3 class at the Duke of Marlborough school in town. We spent the morning gathering some plants, willow catkins, caterpillars, aquatic insects and of course zooplankton to show the students. The grade 3's just finished units about soils and plant growth and were eager to see all of the critters we brought in.

Liz explained how many aquatic insects make protective cases out of materials they find in the water and was able to show cases made of grasses, other plants, twigs and rocks. Emily showed how larvae use plants and specifically willow catkins to make their homes and explained how she is currently rearing several different species of caterpillars. I showed my groups several different types of zooplankton, explained how they overwinter, what they eat and taught the students how to focus on the small organisms under a microscope. The kids were all very eager to participate, from the student who told me all about krill to a student who insisted on showing all the other kids how she learned to focus the microscope.

The end of the session was spent playing a game simulating competition between animals for different habitats and resources. Overall a very fun afternoon and a great opportunity for us to share some of our science! Thanks to LeeAnn for setting up this chance for us, to Liz for the organization as well as to the students and their teacher for welcoming us into their classroom!