Grade 6 students Emaurie, Liviane, and Abigail demonstrate how their crafty prosthetic hands work during a full day of science-based learning and activities, hosted virtually by U of A scientists. Jeannette Benoit-Leipert Meridian Source
Science was the subject at École Sans-Frontière, as female Grade 6 students had the opportunity to learn from University of Alberta (U of A) female scientists.
They connected virtually during an interactive session via the U of A’s WISEST (women in scholarship, engineering, science, and technology) initiative.
“This is an activity for Grade 6 girls and it’s to get them interested in a career in science, technology, and engineering,” said teacher Sylvie Bertrand, who led the science activities at the school.
“Just this morning we built a prosthetic hand, and we had someone who works at the U of A building prosthetic hands, talk about her work,” said Bertrand, adding it was a great interactive activity, where the students could ask questions.
The hands the girls made weren’t made of the same materials as a real prosthetic, but they were engineered similarly, using straws, yarn and other craft supplies.
“They took us through the different steps of how to make it and the one presenter did have a real prosthetic hand and showed us when you pull on things, how it moves.”
Grade 6 student Abigail Butt said she enjoyed the presentation.
“Some people use hooks instead of actual hand-like prosthetics, I thought that was pretty interesting.”
She said if she were to pursue a career in science, she’d like to study ‘animals, plants, and space’.
Following the presentation in the morning, the young scientists along with other Grade 6 girls who registered across Alberta, were tasked with building a mini cooler out of specific supplies with the final project being looked at by a WISEST rep.
“And so everyone is going to send in their best design and somebody will be entered for a draw for a pizza lunch,” said Bertrand, adding the deadline to send in the project was March 1.
École Sans-Frontière, was originally opened under the francophone board in Saskatchewan but was transferred to the Alberta francophone board in 2015. They have 15 students enrolled from both sides of the border, in Grades K-12.
“This is the only French language school here in Lloydminster. The rest is immersion, and what we see for sure is that the level of French that kids come out with is significantly more fluent, significantly stronger than kids that go through immersion,” said principal Miles Muri.
“And beyond that, there’s also the cultural aspect. We make sure that Christian-Francophone identity is part of what we’re teaching in school.”
