Asking the Right Questions

By Marissa Campbell

Durham District School Board (DDSB) challenges students to improve the living conditions of everyone today without compromising our shared future

On May 10, DDSB students attended the 2019 Secondary STEM Challenge and spent a full day exploring themes in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) to solve a variety of problems related to the UN Sustainable Development Goals of 2030.

Keynote speaker Henry Fung, a Master's graduate from Ontario Tech University, (formerly UOIT) spoke about the relationship between sustainability and engineering. He challenged students to ask the right questions.

“Ask yourself, ‘What do I do well? What does the world need and what am I passionate about?’” says Fung. “It’s important to stay focused on the goal we want to achieve. Are we trying to lower the cost of living, supply clean drinking water or increase food availability? We need to think about how we measure success. By asking ‘how much,’ we can quantify that goal.”

DDSB STEM & Science Facilitator Jane Kennedy agreed with Fung. “Kids need to learn about STEM and how to apply it,” says Kennedy. “They need to ask, ‘How can I use the knowledge that I have, my abilities and the intersections between the subjects to help solve problems that face our world.’”

Analyzing sustainability

Throughout the morning, students moved through a series of hands-on workshops that explored four of the key UN Sustainability Goals, including Climate Action. This had students analyze Vostok ice core samples from 800,000 B.C.E. right up to April 2019. In the Clean Water workshop, teams examined the area spread and thickness of an oil spill. The key takeaway… it takes very little oil to impact a huge area.

In the afternoon, students engaged in a nail-biting robotics competition. Students were tasked with coding their bots and ultimately tried to either knock their competition off the table or pop their attached balloons. Pickering High School Team #1 won first place in the robotics competition and best overall in the full-day sustainability challenge.

“STEM arms students with the information they need and the tools required to affect change,” explains Kennedy. “Science is not removed from the needs of the world. We’re in this together.”