Let’s Talk Science is an award-winning, national, charitable organization dedicated to engaging youth through meaningful STEM experiences.  Their Outreach program is run by over 100 post-secondary student coordinators and over 3500 post-secondary volunteers.  All of Let’s Talk Science’s programs are free.

Roles

Outreach Volunteer | Digital Content Contributor | Outreach Site Coordinator | Community Project Coordinator

Outreach Volunteer

My life changed when I received an email from the Faculty of Science at the University of Windsor in September 2013.  It was a call for post-secondary volunteers to participate in a new-to-Windsor nation-wide outreach program by bringing hands-on science to local classrooms and community events.  I attended training, brought the It’s Electrifying! workshop to a grade 6 classroom, and I never looked back!  I’ve volunteered in dozens of classrooms, hosted several on-campus events for youth, and eventually became an Outreach Site Coordinator!

Digital Content Contributor

Let’s Talk Science has free online resources for extended classroom learning. This content allows students to apply the concepts they are learning in class to real world issues, explore related career and research profiles, complete action projects, and more.  I’ve written two articles (Antimatter and Why It Matters to Me and The Physics of Death Stars and Light Sabres) and completed a research profile during my graduate studies, and later a career profile for my role as an AI Consultant at IBM.

Outreach Site Coordinator

As an outreach site coordinator I worked with the different departments in the Faculty of Science at the University of Windsor and York University to recruit volunteers, train them, and provide them with resources to visit classrooms and host on-campus events.

Community Project Coordinator

In my final year of graduate school I started a partnership through Let’s Talk Science, with the San Romanoway Revitalization Association (SRRA), a community centre located at Jane and Finch in Toronto. I had the extreme privilege of bringing hands-on science to the youth in grades K-8 at the SRRA’s breakfast and after school programs. I recruited and trained pre-service teachers to deliver weekly hands-on activities and other exciting opportunities like a STEM Community Event, Tomatosphere seed investigations, the Let’s Talk Science Challenge and even the launch for Nintendo Labo in Toronto where the students got to meet Bill Nye! Through extensive program evaluation we’ve know we’re helping children build STEM competencies, we’re meeting the needs of the community centre and the expectations of the parents, and we’re helping to develop skilled teacher candidates.

In the first year the project recorded over 3,000 youth interactions through 70 hands-on activities – almost doubling the original objective of 40 activities.  In the second year of the program, I put systems and resources in place for the number of activities to exceed 100, an ambitious goal inspired by the ongoing needs-consultation with community stakeholders.