Outreach
The Shack participates in and hosts a variety of events, workshops, tours, and demonstrations to make science fun and accessible for students and teachers across the province. Find out more about our outreach work on this page.
Campus Tours
Group visits for junior high and high school students are available through the University of Alberta tours website. Tour groups have the option to stop for a small tour within The Shack, which usually consists of a brief talk about what The Shack is and how it works, demonstrations, and questions.
We show the students current and past projects being worked on in the space along with machines that we provide to the university students.
Science Summer Camps
Every summer, the Faculty of Science runs various summer camps for students (ranging from grades 1 to 11) on subjects including computer games, dinosaurs, forensics, physics, space, chemistry, robotics, and more. The Shack participates in and hosts several demos, tours, experiments, and activities with campers to enhance their experiential learning and fun.
We also host the Hands-on Physics camp for grades 8 to 12 where students explore physics through experimentation and demonstration.
Science FUNday
Science FUNday is an event held by the student organization Science FUNdamentals. They host a day of science related demonstrations and talks geared towards elementary school students, including demos of projects created at The Shack and tours of the space.
Let's Talk Science
Let's Talk Science is a national organization dedicated to providing education in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) to students and educators.
Every year The Shack partakes in a School of Witchcraft and Wizardry event held by Let's Talk Science at the University of Alberta. We set up a table with demonstrations made in The Shack aligning with the theme of witchcraft and wizardry.
Demonstrations
When The Shack participates in outreach events around campus, we often include demos as part of our presentations.
Check out some of them in the videos below.
Bike Wheel Gyroscope
This video illustrates an important conservation law of physics: the conservation of angular momentum or turning motion. Anything that is turning has angular momentum.
This is similar to inertia, only in rotational motion. If a wheel is spinning in one direction, it wants to keep turning in that same direction. If it is not turning, it tries to stay still.
The Shack: Bike Wheel Gyroscope
Lathe Pendulum
This is an example of a Foucault Pendulum observed from a different reference frame. When the lathe begins to turn, it is more like you are an astronaut sitting above earth (or the lathe) looking down on it spinning. Then the pendulum does not move from your point of view, whereas on Earth is does appear to move.
Video by Jordan Cameron
Lathe Pendulum
The Mug Transporter
Professor John Beamish demonstrates the use of centrifugal forces to prevent coffee spills.
Professor John Beamish avoiding coffee spills