Science experiments, hummingbirds and invertebrate sampling

The School of Environment & Sustainability has welcomed the last elementary school class for the 2018/2019 school year. The Grade 3/4 class was so excited to spend the day with us! They spent the morning in the lab doing science experiments and then listening to a hummingbird presentation by Alison Moran (each student got to take a hummingbird feeder home!!). In the afternoon, they headed outside to sample invertebrates in Hatley Creek and then the finale of the day was the always popular Coke and Mentos experiment.

The morning consisted of 4 stations, where each group rotated through each experiment. At one station they blew-up balloons using baking soda and vinegar, then made rockets using film canisters, water, and Alka-Seltzer. At another station they made raisins dance in club soda and then made empty pop cans “jump” from one mug into a second mug, without touching it! They also created rainbows using an acid (Vinegar), a base (Sodium hydroxide), universal indicator, and Alka-Seltzer, and elephant toothpaste using hydrogen peroxide, dish soap, food coloring, and potassium iodide.

After lunch, the class headed to Hatley Creek to learn how to sample, sort and identify invertebrates. After using nets to catch anything that was gently kicked up from the sediments, the sample is dumped into a container so the invertebrates can be sorted into ice cube trays using pipettes. Once sorted, the students learned to identify the invertebrates using charts, then count them and fill out a form from the Streamkeepers Handbook. This form allows us to asses the water quality of the creek based on the diversity and abundance of species found.

Thank you to Angie, Carina, and Christelle for helping us successfully run the activities for this class.