Past Institutes
Each institute has a custom set of workshops that explore topics such as the process of science, agricultural science, optics and light, everyday chemistry, energy, rocks and minerals, biodiversity, coding and digital skills and more! Participants will walk away with classroom ready activities and materials.
SIET travels across Canada from coast to coast to coast. Here are some of the locations we’ve engaged with teachers for hands-on professional development.
SIET ONLINE workshops Summer 2022
This series of workshops included:
- Process of Science – Making Your Science Classroom Come Alive!
Discover engaging ways to jump start classroom science. Explore your curiosity and think like a scientist, use your observation and inference skills and walk away with practical tools you can use with your students. - Learning through Making and Tinkering
Craft-making and tinkering are often the most anticipated and appreciated part of any session for young participants. But how can we ensure that creative fun includes educational content, and that participants’ imaginations are not dampened by evaluation requirements? This session offers animation tips to help you develop general skills among your participants, along with information on how to incorporate scientific and technological principles into your projects — all while keeping your class from devolving into happy chaos . . . or not! This session also features a bit of creative play in two hands-on activities. - Diversity in STEM
See how Ingenium’s free Women in STEM resources can equip you to engage your students in addressing inclusivity and equity in STEM. Learn how to engage your students on tough issues with open-ended activities to encourage dialogue and discussion. - Fun with photosynthesis: easy experiments with plants
Growing plants in the classroom provides many opportunities for hands-on science learning!
Students can discover the answers to questions like “Why are plants green?” and “How do plants breathe?” through this series of hands-on investigations. In this dynamic workshop, you’ll try your hand at making leaf stomata imprints, play with plant pigments, learn to paint leaves with light, and observe oxygen production by an aquatic plant. - Digital Literacy: Incorporating Scratch in the STEM Classroom
How can we enhance our students’ engagement with STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, & Math) in meaningful ways? In this session, Actua will provide teachers with an overview of Scratch and showcase some ideas on how to use this tool to provide coding opportunities in the classroom. Then, participants will be invited to participate in a hands-on Scratch activity that can be easily incorporated into their STEM classrooms. - Science of Sport
Explore the science behind the human body and discover engaging activities to do with your students that investigate the physics and chemistry of the human body. From how our bodies work to how we perform physical activities, this workshop consists of activities you can share with your students to show that science plays a big part in sports. - Innovation and Creativity
Explore how easy it is to innovate! In this workshop you will learn learn two simple strategies to help defuse frustration and unblock creativity. Using an aviation /aerospace-themed design-build challenge layered alongside anxiety-busting, creativity-boosting strategies we will share the “Junkyard Flying Machines” design-build challenge, a simple centering exercise, tips on how to apply discernment vs judgement and how to iterate without shame along with some fun historical (and humanizing!) insights about innovators of the past to unlock the creative potential of students.
This workshop is easily adaptable for all grades, but will appeal most to teachers of Grade 3-8. - Widget Building Workshop
Widgets are fun and simple activities that can be done with elementary school students to illustrate science concepts. This workshop will include a number of easy projects that explore sound and energy and encourage critical thinking skills in students. - Math – The Science of Patterns
Explore patterns and use this to predict and see how this this can help crack codes. Discover math and patterns in nature, see how it can inspire creativity and understand why some call math the science of patterns. - Classroom Chess: The Way To Empowerment
A Workshop By Girl Boss Chess
Encounter and discover the untapped dynamic potential of chess to forge confidence, strategic thinking and a growth mindset in both students and educators alike. Learn practical ways in which chess can be leveraged to empower educators and help them leave a lasting legacy and impact on students that goes beyond the classroom. - The Classroom Outdoors
Take your learning outdoors and teach your students how they can become citizen scientists. Find out how you can create easy-to-use tools that empower your students to gather data and record their observations of the natural world. - Coding Without Computers
Investigate hands-on activities that help student learn the basic aspects of coding – without computers! This workshop shows how essential programming concepts, such as variables and syntax, can be presented to very young students in a fun and engaging manner.
SIET ONLINE workshops Summer 2021
This series of workshops included:
- Process of Science – Making Your Science Classroom Come Alive!
Discover engaging ways to jump start classroom science. Explore your curiosity and think like a scientist, use your observation and inference skills and walk away with practical tools you can use with your students. - Creative Prototyping
Participants will learn practical ways to engage students in hands-on prototyping (both physical & digital realms) while teaching remotely. A few quick creative challenges will be shared based on maker education activities. - The Classroom Outdoors
Take your learning outdoors and teach your students how they can become citizen scientists. Find out how you can create easy-to-use tools that empower your students to gather data and record their observations of the natural world. - Math – The Science of Patterns
Explore patterns and use this to predict and see how this this can help crack codes. Discover math and patterns in nature, see how it can inspire creativity and understand why some call math the science of patterns. - Seeing the Invisible
Discover how you can transform your cell phone into a powerful tool to explore the “micro-world”. Use this to explore close up crystal shape and the structure of objects and unleash your student’s curiosity to explore the world around them - Structures and Shapes
Learn how you can explore the form and function of structures in the world around us with your students, and what makes them useful. A series of hands-on activities explores how certain shapes and structures are affected by forces that act on or within them, and how this can guide the design of new structures and mechanisms. - Women in STEM
See how Ingenium’s free resources can equip you to engage your students in addressing inclusivity and equity in STEM. Learn how to engage your students on tough issues with open-ended activities to encourage dialogue and discussion. - Energy in Our Lives
Learn creative strategies for teaching about different forms of energy, and how you can use digital and traditional tools to engage students. These activities provide a platform for students to explore renewable and non-renewable energy, from production to consumption, in a hands-on and interactive way. - Engineering Energy Solutions
Explore how students can act as engineers as they embark on these activities that allow them to get creative about how they can use the design process to address energy consumption in their communities. Emphasis is placed on the design process. - STEM-Based Cyber Safety Education
Explore ways to help students to navigate the internet safely and responsibly, both managing privacy and building healthy online connections. Participants will explore hands-on, interactive resources and activities from Actua’s E2C Project: Engage. Empower. Connect. program that is currently being piloted with Boys & Girls Clubs of Canada.
SIET ONLINE workshops for the 2020-21 School Year
This series of workshops included:
- Process of Science – Making Your Science Classroom Come Alive!
Discover engaging ways to jump start classroom science. Explore your curiosity and think like a scientist, use your observation and inference skills and walk away with practical tools you can use with your students. - Creative Prototyping
Participants will learn practical ways to engage students in hands-on prototyping (both physical & digital realms) while teaching remotely. A few quick creative challenges will be shared based on maker education activities. - Widget Building Workshop
Widgets are fun and simple activities that can be done with elementary school students to illustrate science concepts. This workshop will include a number of easy projects that explore sound and energy and encourage critical thinking skills in students. - Coding Without Computers
You don’t need a computer to learn about coding! Learn about the resources available that you can share with your students, and how learning to code is both fun and educational for students of any age. - Interactive Coding Workshop
Interactive Coding Workshop This workshop is a basic introduction to Scratch and other fun coding activities, specifically geared towards teachers who want to support their students with building digital skills while teaching and learning remotely. - Artificial Intelligence Explorations
This workshop will introduce some fun, hands-on way to introduce artificial intelligence (AI) to youth – without any coding background required! We’ll do some hands-on (remote) activities that can be implemented with students and also introduce extra resources to help bring AI into any classroom. Come prepared to play and explore emerging technology. - The Classroom Outdoors
Take your learning outdoors and teach your students how they can become citizen scientists. Find out how you can create easy-to-use tools that empower your students to gather data and record their observations of the natural world. - Math – The Science of Patterns
Explore patterns and use this to predict and see how this this can help crack codes. Discover math and patterns in nature, see how it can inspire creativity and understand why some call math the science of patterns. - Seeing the Invisible
Discover how you can transform your cell phone into a powerful tool to explore the “micro-world”. Use this to explore close up crystal shape and the structure of objects and unleash your student’s curiosity to explore the world around them. - Properties of Air and the Basics of Flight
Participants explore the physical properties of air, Bernoulli’s principle, and how different aspects of flight work through engaging and practical experiments and activities. - Exploring Simple Machines
Participants explore the different types of simple machines, the ways we can use mechanical advantage, and the applications of simple machines in our day-to-day lives.
Iqaluit, Nunavut – February 18-20, 2020
In partnership with Actua
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan – January 25, 2020
In partnership with Canadian Light Source
Kitimat, British Columbia – August 14 and 15, 2019
Two days of teacher professional development led by Ingenium
St John’s, Newfoundland – July 10 and 11, 2019
In partnership with NLESD
Prince George, British Columbia – August 21, 2018
In partnership with Science World British Columbia
Vancouver, British Columbia – August 17, 2018
In partnership with Science World British Columbia
St John’s, Newfoundland – July 25 & 26, 2018
Two days of teacher professional development led by Ingenium
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan – July 17, 2018
In partnership with Canadian Light Source
Northern Alberta – July 3 to 7, 2018
In partnership with Inside Education – the lead organizer
Vancouver, British Columbia – August 15 to 18, 2017
In partnership with Science World British Columbia
St John’s, Newfoundland – July 11 & 12, 2017
Two days of teacher professional development led by Ingenium
Iqaluit, Nunavut – February 13 to 15, 2017
As part of the Nunavut Teachers’ Association Professional Improvement Week
Vancouver, British Columbia – August 9 to 12, 2016
In partnership with Science World British Columbia
Vancouver, British Columbia – July 28 to 30, 2015
In partnership with Science World BC, the Vancouver Aquarium and the H.R. MacMillan Space Centre
