Wow Lab | Program details | Volunteer | Information for partners | Blueprints
Welcome to WOW Lab!
The WOW Lab consists of professors, graduate students, and undergraduate students from these faculties, all working in their own areas of expertise to produce the highest calibre work. As prototypes take shape, we will engage with numerous future teachers here at McGill and with current teachers and partner groups across Canada, to assess these new teaching technologies in the classroom. We aim to develop three-dimensional science and math teaching technologies to enable schoolteachers to teach science with the highest levels of student excitement, amazement and amusement, resulting in higher motivation, interest and increased learning.
For more details, enter the WOW Lab!
Program details
- Host Faculty/Dept/Student Group: Faculty of Education and Faculty of Science
- Main contact: Anila.Asghar [at] mcgill.ca (Anila Asghar)
- Outreach website: Wow Lab! website
- Languages offered: English and French
- Year established: 2007
- Location and timeline: On and Off McGill Campus, program runs throughout the summer
- Collaborative partners: This project is collaboration between the Faculty of Education and the Faculty of Science at McGill University
- Links to media about outreach program: Check out our Rainbow in Bottle activity on YouTube.
- School/School board partners: We will teach teachers and students scientific concepts through WoW lab projects, currently working with schools throughout Montreal and working with teachers across Eastern Canada
Volunteer
Time commitment
McGill Students can volunteer to deliver science sessions in the summer to summer camps. There would be training, teaching, shopping and prepping involved.
Why volunteer?
- Great for anyone aspiring to be a teacher-this is great experience teaching kids science! Improves your ability to conduct a mass experiment with a class, with public speaking, and with teaching science concept.
- McGill, as a leading research university in education, gives teachers tangible things that they can do with their students.
- The research and work is put to use, to change classrooms and make them dynamic learning centers where students have fun and learn at the same time-creating great learning moments and fun and engaging education experiences-all created with McGill Minds.
To get involved, contact Anila.Asghar [at] mcgill.ca (Anila Asghar).
Information for partners
How the program impacts teaching and learning
- Teachers get innovative, fun ways to teach their students complex scientific subjects. They are given all the tools to prepare and then demonstrate the experiment as well as given the curriculum guidelines so that they can see how each experiment aligns with their required teaching.
- This program spurs student's curiosity. By providing a fun and hands on learning experience, students are more engaged and excited to learn about scientific concepts.
- We also believe that the science material gets more engrained. It is our hope that these experiments influence students to participate in STEM fields in their future education and careers and continue to innovate.
- Our program is innovative because we use every day objects to teach science!
- It's innovative because the actual learning materials are all reasonably priced and found in any supermarket, and teachers can intern provide their students with exciting science activities at a reasonable cost.
- Often, teachers may be unable to go the extra mile for their students due to budget restrictions. These activities are designed so that classrooms can do 85-90% of the activities!
- Furthermore, we have everything translated in English and French, with multimedia videos and pictures so that teachers can see in a dynamic way, what the teaching moment will look like.
- We also have carefully crafted the "blueprints" for each project for maximum "do-ability". We make it as easy as possible by providing teachers with the curriculum guidelines, the steps for performing the experiment, the grocery list - literally everything you could think of to simplify using the experiments!
- We bring science to camps, and to teachers and so we educate in science outside of the classroom. We teach scientific concepts (from a post-secondary level) to people who may not be attending post-secondary institutions.
Get your blueprints!
Canadian elementary and high school teachers can download our WOW Lab! blueprints to create novel activities to optimally engage students in science and math classes.