Science fairs are places where students can show off their love of research and experimenting. What a great idea! (Courtesy of Youth Science Canada)
Science fairs—events where young people share their latest projects and experiments with each other—have a long history in Canada. Every year in March and April, there are regional fairs. There are about 100 of these local events across the country. And they all lead to one place.
The Canada-Wide Science Fair (CWSF)!
This is where the top projects from each regional fair are all brought together in a national celebration of student science. The CWSF has been held 59 times since 1962. Last year the event was sidelined due to the pandemic. But this year, it is full speed ahead as the 2021 Virtual Canada-Wide Science Fair.
Happening from May 19 to 21, CWSF 21 will have 374 student competitors, all of whom have been working hard on their projects so you can see them. It's going to be a terrific exhibition of curiosity and discovery. And for the first time ever, nearly everyone in the country can join in on the fun!
Online awesomeness
Youth Science Canada is ready this year to bring the full fair online. (Courtesy of Youth Science Canada)
When last year's fair was cancelled, Youth Science Canada (YSC, who run the event every year) replaced it with the Online STEM Fair. This was a kind of open house for anyone who wanted to submit a science project for people to see. Not only was it fun, it also gave YSC a chance to test out holding an event on the internet. Now this year, they're ready to roll online!
With large gatherings still not possible in Canada, it's time to hold a virtual Canada-Wide Science Fair. And something that's cool about doing things this way is that if you have internet access you can visit the fair! Let us show you how.
Click the links! Do the activities!
You can check out each exhibit yourself online, just like if you were a fair judge! (Courtesy of Youth Science Canada)
To plan your visit, go here. To plan your visit in French, click here. You can visit both as an individual or as a class.
And there's also the CWSF Project Board, where you'll find links to the main stage events, the Stem Expo (where you can tour the booths of all the student exhibitors), and more. And if you're a visitor, you can do more than just look around.
You can tune into CWSF-TV, an on-demand, livestreamed network with three hours of new STEM content each day! There's interviews with astronauts and scientists, and tons of new videos from museums and science partners across the country.
YSC is also hosting activities and events for you to participate in! Every day, there will be STEM Scavenger Hunts and science-based Escape Room activities—each will be held for two different age groups, Gr. 5–8, and Gr. 9–12. All in all, it sounds like an amazing online party in celebration of science.
We'll see you there!
Contest alert
And speaking of science competitions, did you do science activities during Science Odyssey? Don't forget that there's still time to enter the Science Odyssey Contest! It's easy and fun, and prizes include a Samsung tablet!
Deadline is May 23rd. Click HERE TO ENTER.
