UNBC Active Minds
3333 University Way V2N 4Z9 Prince George, BC, Canada

Registration is now open for this year’s virtual Go ENG Girl event! Girls in grades 7-10 are invited to join us to explore the exciting field of engineering and participate in a fun hands-on activity. You don’t want to miss out on this amazing event! To register, and claim your spot today, visit us at: https://www.unbc.ca/youth/go-eng-girl

Our team recently had the privilege of being a part of the great lineup put together by Science World for their #GirlsandSTEAM event. Check out our video contribution to see the advice our team members were able to offer young girls in STEAM! We are always so excited for the opportunity to foster enthusiasm for STEAM among young minds. Thank you for having us Science World! https://youtu.be/uGJkR_lcF1U

Last call, only two Spooky STEM Halloween boxes left to purchase with deliveries going out this week!! This box is sure to thrill with all the supplies you'll need to complete three spooktacular experiments at home! unbc.ca/youth/registration #unbc #thisisunbc #unbcactiveminds #stem #steam #stemathome #activemindsathome #cityofpg #princegeorgebc #northernbc #stemforkids #stemlearning

We are chilled to announce that our newest activity box launch is coming soon! This launch will see the return of five favourite boxes from the past, as well as a brand new Winter Wonderland theme. Active Minds Activity boxes make the perfect gift for any young STEM enthusiast in your life and pre-orders will be opening soon!

Mark your calendars for this year’s Go ENG Girl event, gone virtual! This free event is open to girls grades 7-10 and will begin at 10:00AM PST on November 28th. Join us to discover the growing world of engineering, meet women currently studying engineering and learn about some of the amazing things female engineers are doing! Registration will be opening soon!

We only have 12 Halloween themed boxes left before they're sold out! 2 Mad Scientist boxes and 10 Spooky STEM boxes are available for purchase at unbc.ca/youth/registration! Snag yours today before they're all gone!!

We are so thrilled to be sponsoring Science World’s #GirlsandSTEAM Virtual Symposium! Together, we’re bridging the gap between girls and real professionals through their mutual passion for science, technology, engineering, art/design and math. Our video contribution to this event will be available to view following the end of the virtual event! This fantastic event is coming up on November 7th, to register visit https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/girls-and-steam-2020-virtual-sy

Happy Monday everyone! Today we’re shining the spotlight on our second Halloween activity box theme, Spooky STEM! This box truly screams Halloween and is sure to be a real treat. Add some STEM to your October night and discover the world of science made spooky! Boxes will be delivered Halloween week and we have limited stock available! For more information, and to snag your box today, visit us at https://www.unbc.ca/youth/registration

Halloween is drawing near but there’s no need to fear! This spooky Saturday we’re highlighting one of our brand new Halloween activity boxes, the Mad Scientist theme! Turn your house into Frankenstein’s lab with all the supplies you’ll need for three spooktacular experiments that are sure to wow. Get your lab coats ready and become a mad scientist while learning all about the thrilling world of STEM! Quantities are limited are limited so slither, crawl, or fly your way over to our website to get yours today! For more information visit us at https://www.unbc.ca/youth/registration

Ghostly greetings from the Active Minds team! As Halloween night draws near, we’ve been busy in our lab concocting two new limited edition Active Minds activity boxes. Explore the thrilling world of STEM from the safety of your home with our two box themes, Mad Scientist and Spooky STEM. Each box comes jam packed with all the speciality supplies you’ll need for three spooky experiments! Boxes will be delivered the week of Halloween and with only 25 of each theme available, you won’t want to miss out! For more information and to purchase your spooktacular box visit us at https://www.unbc.ca/youth/registration

Happy Thursday everyone, this week we’re checking out the progression of an experiment called growing and shrinking eggs!To begin this experiment two eggs were placed in jars labeled A and B and both jars were filled with vinegar. As you can see, bubbles quickly formed on the surfaces of the shells. As the eggs sat in the vinegar, the vinegar began to dissolve the egg shells! After a few days the vinegar was drained and jar A was filled with water while jar B was filled wi...th corn syrup. After sitting for another day the eggs were removed from the jars and compared to a regular egg! The size difference is clear to see, the egg in water grew larger as it pulled water inside of it and the egg in corn syrup shrunk as the corn syrup pulled water out of the egg. Try this experiment at home using liquids you find around your house, after dissolving the shells with vinegar! What will your results be?

We are back with another STEM at Home activity for you to try out! In today's video, Emma will be teaching us how to make bubble snakes. This a really cool activity that has an awesome rainbow result but also teaches us a bit about the science behind bubbles! Check out this video: https://youtu.be/r3KSowylmis and others on our YouTube channel! #STEMatHome #UNBC #ActiveMindsatHome

Happy Wednesday everyone! Today we have an awesome progression project to share from our leader Kelseigh who will be showing us how she made Carbon Sugar Worms! How does this work? Well sugar combusts (burns) in the presence of oxygen so when Kelseigh lit the sand on fire she started this reaction which pushed more sugar upwards to react. But, some sugar did not have access to oxygen so instead of burning it underwent thermal decomposition which is a fancy way of saying ...under heat it broke into what makes it up, which is solid carbon! This is the black worms you see! Additionally, the baking soda decomposes in heat to make sodium bicarbonate, which combined with the solid carbon, makes up the worms! This set of reactions is very cool to watch but if you want to try it at home you will need help from an adult since it involves fire! There you have it! Carbon Sugar Worms! #STEM #UNBC #Science

Throwback Thursday!! To when we had UNBC's Interim President Dr. Geoff Payne join us for one of our Ask A Prof Lives. He shared an awesome presentation all about the cardiovascular system that's sure to get your heart pumping! If you missed Dr. Payne's live presentation or any of our other amazing guests, don't worry! We have each of these videos saved here on our Facebook as well as on our YouTube channel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8xl3QoQ6Q3R7sBOqLT5N6Q

Happy Wednesday everyone!! To keep all you Active Minds excited about STEM during the school year we've decided to post some fun STEM resources every Wednesday! These may be activity videos or what we like to call "progression projects" where you get to follow along and watch as an experiment develops and changes over time! To kick us off, Lindsay is going to teach us how to make Ice Cream in a Bag! Watch this video and others on our YouTube channel! ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReP2y-jX2Bc&feature=youtu.be See more

The Active Minds team would like to thank everyone who supported us this summer, without your support we could not have had such a fantastic summer! A special shoutout goes to our amazing sponsors who made it possible for us to offer our programming and encourage STEM interest in B.C’s kids for another year. Thank you to our Mastermind Presenting Sponsor: BC Oil and Gas Commission, as well as our Brainstorm sponsors: R. Radloff and Associates, RBC, Triton Environmental Consultants Ltd., and New Gold Blackwater Project!

Ask a Prof with Dr. Todd Whitcombe!

Tomorrow is our last Ask A Prof Friday and we have a very exciting guest to wrap up the summer! Dr. Todd Whticombe from the chemistry department will be ending the summer with a bang, and showing off some mind-boggling scientific magic tricks!! Make sure to join us LIVE here on our Facebook page Friday at 1pm, to watch, learn, and ask questions!!

We are thrilled to join Actua as their newest network member!! Actua is Canada’s largest science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) youth outreach network representing 41 university and college based members. Each year, Actua’s growing network of member organizations reaches over 300,000 young Canadians in 500 communities nationwide. ... The collaboration with Actua will assist UNBC Active Minds as we extend our STEM programming to better engage underserved populations and continue to improve our Indigenous outreach. Check out the media release for more details! https://bit.ly/3hyYcL1