university welcomes and inspires grade 8 learners

april 21, 2011

learning at 阿根廷vs墨西哥竞猜 an eye-opener for grade 8 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛

while they've yet to graduate from elementary school, some lucky local 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 have already taken classes at 阿根廷vs墨西哥竞猜 's new orillia campus.

the unique initiative was spearheaded by anders hagman, a special education teacher at marchmont public school. in the fall, hagman was searching for unique learning opportunities while developing individual education plans (iep) for marchmont's exceptional grade 8 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 .

after making inquiries at local high schools and at the simcoe county district school board office, he had an epiphany that led him down an entirely different path.

"it just kind of came to me that we have this brand new university in town and that maybe they would be interested in working with us to expose these 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 to something a little different," said hagman.

after talking to lakehead's professor grazia viola, he knew the idea had potential. "she was all for the idea and really made it happen," said hagman. once the school board and university leadership agreed to the partnership, parents gave their permission, and seven 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 from marchmont took part in a math program with professor viola.

word spread to the university's science department; they wanted to take part in the program too.

after the math unit, these seven 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 took chemistry classes with dr. thamara laredo and learned biology with dr. nanda kanavillil and dr. sree kurissery. then, assistant professor dr. chris murray, a graduate of orillia's park street collegiate institute, jumped on board with a plan to teach physics and general science to the group.

knowing the 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 were studying water systems as part of their science curriculum at marchmont, murray took advantage of the living lab that is the orillia campus. he recruited brian jeffs, lakehead's assistant vice-president of administration and finance, to tour the 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 through some of the green elements found throughout the university avenue facility.

jeffs showed the wide-eyed 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 the unique green roof, explaining how the natural ground cover acts as both a cooling agent and helps manage runoff. he then took the 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 to a place where most haven't gone before: the basement. here, 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 could see the complex infrastructure of pipes and tubes that are the engine of the unique building. "it took more than six months for engineers to map out the piping," said jeffs. "they originally estimated it would take three months but it was so complex and so unique, it took almost twice as long."

because the university uses geothermal heating, the complex system required drilling more than 130 holes to a depth of 300 feet to take advantage of the heat stored beneath the earth's surface. 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 were able to see the tubing that diverts heat into the basement, where it is redirected throughout the three-storey building.

the marchmont 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 find out about the technology behind the geothermal heating system used at lakehead - orillia's new university avenue campus from brian jeffs, lakehead's assistant vice-president of administration and finance.

"this building was constructed to the highest standard of the leadership in energy and environmental design (leed©) certification program, which is the platinum level," murray told the young 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 . "this is one of the most unique buildings you will ever see."

after checking out the large cisterns that help collect water outside, the marchmont 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 assembled in one of lakehead's state-of-the-art science labs. murray put them to work creating their own water filters using a unique engineers without borders exercise. engineers without borders is a group of engineers who apply their skills to help provide access to clean water in rural africa. the 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 , split into pairs representing various countries; were given instructions, monopoly money, access to a 'store', and were directed to build a filter that would turn their country's polluted water supply into usable water.
this was no easy task. the 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 representing ghana, for example, were given only partial instructions and not enough money to buy what they needed to make the filter work. the idea was to mirror the education, literacy, and wealth levels in the countries represented.

"it was a science experiment but it was also a lesson in politics, economics and geography," said hagman. "i think it was a real eye-opener for the 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 ."
in fact, the entire lakehead-marchmont partnership was an exercise in discovery. it's been a boon for the elementary 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 and given lakehead a new way to further develop its relationship with the community it calls home.
"i hope that this partnership will serve as a pilot for a program that we can offer to other elementary school children," said murray. "i think there is a lot of potential here."

teacher anders hagman, who has already witnessed the benefits of the unique partnership, agrees wholeheartedly and says he is more than willing to help the program expand and grow.

"many of the 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 have told me this is the best part of their grade 8 year," said hagman. "it's great to be able to come to the campus and tap into a world-class facility right here in orillia."

阿根廷vs墨西哥竞猜 's dr. chris murray, assistant professor of general science, helps marchmont public school 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 vicky godsell (left) and erica geen, build a water filter as part of a unique learning program set up for the 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 .