Due to the current situation with COVID-19, we are not offering Teacher Kits until further notice.

The following kits are available to check out from Nanaimo Science to teachers free of charge for a two-week period:

Microplastics:
Two versions of the kit to introduce students to the environmental impacts of microplastics. Suggested for grades 4 and up.

KEVA:
Set of 400 KEVA planks for exploring structures and building principles. Made possible by Science World BC. Suggested for ages 5 and up.

Species monitoring with Nanaimo Science:
Find background information and details on how to participate please contact us. You can also find a video on what to expect here, feel free to watch it with your class to help them prepare.

Is your class already signed up? You can also download our Sample Game to familiarize your students with the scientific protocol they will be using on their research day.

Online resources:
CitSci.org connects you to ongoing citizen science projects from around the world or helps you develop and manage your own project.

Scistarter.com also connects you to ongoing citizen science projects and also has a range of other activities. Activities and projects can be sorted by projects to do at home, at school, etc.

Looking for some background information on what citizen science is, what the educational benefits are, or how these type of projects link to inquiry?

Classroom Resources:
Below are links to several online resources about pollution:

• Sources and effects of pollution from the Capitol Regional District
• Impacts of plastic litter on animals from onegreenplanet.org
• More on the impacts of plastic waste
• Interesting article on the impacts of urban litter and a related social media campaign
• There are some fantastic resources through NOAA and through a program called Washed Ashore -some of these are also provided in the teacher resource binder.
• You can also download all the pdf documents provided in the teacher resource binder as one document.

Data Sheets and Other Handouts:

• Trash to Treasure Data Sheets
• Data Quantification Worksheet
• Trash to Treasure Poster Handout
• Data from previous years

Microplastics:
As part of our Trash to Treasure program we have developed two kits to provide information and activities for students around the topic of microplastics. These kits were developed with the grade 6 curriculum in mind but could easily be modified for other grade levels. Activities can be used to expand the Trash to Treasure program or can serve as a stand-alone unit.

• Microplastic Kit – Version 1
• Microplastic Kit – Version 2
• Fishing for Microplastics

To reserve the Microplastics Classroom Kit, e-mail [email protected]

Some great hands-on science activities for pre-school aged kids. Many of these could also be modified for primary school students as well. Big Science for Little Hands I is available through Science World and Big Science for Little Hands II is available through the Nanaimo Science website.

Check out the Inquiry Cards with activities for grades K-12 and information for teachers available through Smarter Science.

Have students interested in studying chemistry?

TheBestSchools.org has developed an open-use guide to chemistry degrees. This guide is rich with information students need to know to succeed in chemistry, covering core sections such as certifications, education requirements, and job outlook. BestSchools itself focuses on US schools so this guide is best used for information regarding the subject area and not for searching Canadian post-secondary institutions.