Elementary Workshops
Engineering Outreach at Ontario Tech University offers a variety of workshops for grades K through 8. Our workshops target specific curriculum topics and increase student understanding of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. Our elementary workshops run in blocks of 75 minutes. All bookings require a minimum of 2 workshops.
Maker Workshops
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Heat Retention (Grades K - 4)
In the diverse climate of Canada, heat is one of the most important parts of our lives. In this hands-on 75-minute workshop, students will be managing the flow of heat by designing and testing an insulated container. Participants can expect to make extensive use of the Engineering Design Process as they continually test and improve their designs.
Curriculum Links: Conservation of Energy, Heat in the Environment, Energy in Our Lives, Properties of Liquids and Solids, Interactions in the Environment, Needs and Characteristics of Living ThingsDelivery Method: Available only in person
Cost: Paid - See first page FAQ for prices
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Foil Boats (Grades 1 - 8)
What floats your boat? In this workshop, students explore the principles of buoyancy and the design of ships. Students will use the Engineering Design Process to plan and build their ships out of aluminum foil and other accessible materials - before testing and seeing which boats
Curriculum Links: Objects and Structures, Movement, Buoyancy, Stable Structures, Properties of Matter, Form, Function, and Design, Fluids, Systems in Action
Delivery Method: Available only in person
Cost: Paid - See first page FAQ for prices
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Rush Hour (Grades 6 - 8)
Travel in vehicles is a vital part of the modern world, and we need ways to communicate how to travel safely to the drivers of these vehicles - this is most often seen in traffic lights! Coding and electricity come together to play an important role within society by running these lights, and in this workshop students will design their own fully functional traffic lights (using Micro:bit to control the attached lights)!
Curriculum Links: Light and Sound, Electrical Devices, Engineering Design Process, Coding
Delivery Method: Available only in person
Cost: Paid - See first page FAQ for prices
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Colour Decoded (Grades 4 - 6)
Spectroscopes are an important tool in the sciences, allowing for the spectrum behind any light source to be seen and studied. Students will explore fundamental concepts of light used by a spectroscope, while testing one designed and produced using a 3D printer. Students will then use the Engineering Design Process to re-create the spectroscopes we brought, using common materials that can be sourced from home!
Curriculum Links: Light (waves/particles, electromagnetic spectrum), Engineering Design ProcessDelivery Method: Available only in person
Cost: Paid - See first page FAQ for prices
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Step Forward (Grades 4 - 8)
Prosthetic limbs are an incredible medical tool, helping to make the world more accessible to someone who does not have one. In this workshop students will learn about prosthetics and how they connect to the various systems of the human body. Students will then put these skills into practice (with the Engineering Design Process) designing, building, and testing a rudimentary prosthetic leg with only accessible materials that could reasonably be found at home.
Curriculum Links: Biology (human body and body systems), Engineering Design ProcessDelivery Method: Available only in person
Cost: Paid - See first page FAQ for prices
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TinkerCAD 3D Printing & Prototyping (Grades 6 - 8)
In this workshop, students will be introduced to the fundamentals of 3D modelling with TinkerCAD, with the end goal of stepping into the role of aerospace engineers and designing a rocketship to take astronauts to Mars. Making use of the Engineering Design Process, students will be guided through the various steps of the process to make a 3D model rocketship in a similar fashion that a real engineer would.
If you would like, we also offer to 3D print these designs and ship them back to your school. 3D printing designs created by your students costs $20, with an additional $4 per print. Turnaround time of approximately 2-3 weeks.
Curriculum Connections: Geometry, Engineering DesignDelivery Method: Available only in person
Cost: Paid - See first page FAQ for prices
Coding Workshops
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Matatalab Robotic Adventure (Kindergarten)
Robots are starting to show up all over the place, and they do a lot of things to make our lives easier. In this workshop, students will explore the basics of screenlessly programming Matatalab robots to explore the world around them - just like engineers might do in their work!
Curriculum Links: CodingDelivery Method: Available only in person
Cost: Paid - See first page FAQ for prices
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Ocean Cleanup with Dash (Grades 1 - 3)
Robots are starting to show up all over the place, and they do a lot of things to make our lives easier. In this workshop, students will program Dash robots to simulate a beach cleanup using basic coding skills! Students can expect to make use of the Engineering Design Process to plan out how they will build and test their programs to solve the problem at hand!
Curriculum Links: Coding, Engineering Design ProcessDelivery Method: Available only in person
Cost: Paid - See first page FAQ for prices
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mBot Endurance Race (Grades 4 - 6)
Robots are starting to show up all over the place, and they do a lot of things to make our lives easier. In this workshop, students will explore programming MakeBlock mBot robots with loops to participate in an endurance race! Students can expect to make use of the Engineering Design Process to design, test and improve their programs as they explore the challenges of Repeated and Nested events!
Curriculum Links: Coding, Engineering Design ProcessDelivery Method: Available only in person
Cost: Paid - See first page FAQ for prices
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Sphero on Ice (Grades 7 - 8)
Robots are starting to show up all over the place, and they do a lot of things to make our lives easier. In this workshop, students will learn about the challenges of living in remote Canadian communities, and how we can make them more accessible to live in using robots like Sphero Bolt+. Students can expect to make use of the Engineering Design Process to design, build, test, and improve their programs for their driving robots as they explore the challenges with travelling in icy terrain!
Curriculum Links: Coding, Engineering Design ProcessDelivery Method: Available only in person
Cost: Paid - See first page FAQ for prices
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Game Design 101 (Grades 4 - 6)
Game on! In this Workshop, students will explore the basics of coding through creating a video game based on an ecosystem. Using Microsoft MakeCode Arcade, students will be guided through building a simple video game which recreates an interaction which may be seen in an ecosystem. Students will then be tasked with upgrading their video game, using the Engineering Design Process as a guide for their problem solving.
Curriculum Links: Coding, Biology (biodiversity and ecosystems), Engineering Design ProcessDelivery Method: Available both in person or virtually
Cost: Paid - See first page FAQ for prices
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Intro to Python (Grade 7 - 8)
Python is a common programming language that is one of the most popular programming languages in the world, widely used in the world of STEM. This workshop introduces students to the basics of coding in python such as input/output, assigning variables, conditional statements, leading up to a guided build of a simple game.
Curriculum Links: CodingDelivery Method: Available both in person or virtually
Cost: Paid - See first page FAQ for prices
Actua provides training, resources and support to its national network of members located at universities and colleges across Canada in the delivery of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education outreach programming. Each year, these members engage over 350,000 youth in 500 communities nationwide. Please visit Actua at www.actua.ca
