Due to high server load during the opening of our camp registration on April 1st, the Science Venture registration site experienced technical difficulties which affected some aspects of our system. As a result, we have currently disabled all payment functionality of the system until such time as we are confident that we have resolved these issues.
While the payment functionality is currently inactive, all other registration functions are still working properly and registration remains open.
The 2016 Science Venture team is launching another awesome summer! We invite parents to register online beginning Friday, April 1st at 9:00am. Don't miss the experience!
In addition to Science Venture's renowned Science and Engineering camps, we are pleased to announce two exciting new specialty programs this summer:
ArtSci Camp (Gr. 3/4; 5/6)
Brand new this summer, ArtSci will give campers the chance to explore their favourite arts and sciences in a whole new way. Discover the science of music, investigate the art of biology and much more, through this innovative and creative science camp - with an artistic twist!
Camp Scene Investigation (Gr. 5/6; 7-9)
Back by popular demand! Explore the world of forensic science through "CSI: Camp Scene Investigation" this summer. From DNA analysis to financial forensics, campers will get the chance to enter the lab and unleash their inner CSI, using various techniques to investigate cases, solve crimes and catch the culprits!
To make registration as easy as possible:
Bookmark www.scienceventure.ca.
Be ready to register on Friday morning @ 9:00am
Review our Camp Schedule.
Customize your camper's Science Venture experience!
Have your payment information ready!
We accept most major credit cards.
Sign up for updates!
Follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
Have Questions?
Check out our Camp Information page, or Contact Us!
Registration: (250) 721-8983
Office: (250) 721-8661
Fax: (250) 721-8676
A reminder that the Science Venture offices will be closed from Wednesday, December 23, 2015 at 5:00pm until Monday, January 4, 2016 at 9:00am. See you all next year!
On behalf of everyone here at Science Venture, we would like to wish you all the very best for the festive season and the New Year ahead.
Are you participating in an #HourOfCode event this week? Take part in this fantastic grassroots campaign celebrating Computer Science Education Week (December 7-13) by participating in #HourofCode 2015! https://hourofcode.com/ca#join
Some awesome Classroom Science Kits for Teachers were distributed yesterday at Northwest Community College. Thank you to BG Group Canada for supporting these kits which will reach over 1000 youth in Prince Rupert!
Our Winter Clubs registration is now open and running smoothly.
Our apologies for the glitch this morning but we look forward to seeing many more registrations in the weeks to come!
To register now please visit svreg.engr.uvic.ca
A Huge Thank You to BG Canada for their support of the North West Community College Science Camps run in Prince Rupert this summer!
Check out this amazing video about their involvement with us at https://youtu.be/7tmmkZSpD0Y
For more information check out their social investment page at http://www.princerupertlng.ca/socialinvestment/scienceventure
Science Venture is excited to announce our Winter 2016 Venture and SPARCS Clubs!
Starting January 15, we will be offering 8 fun-filled clubs for participants in Grade 1-9. These Clubs include:
While many of the names remain the same, the curriculum will be brand new; filled with the awesome hands-on, minds-on experiments you have come to know and love from Science Venture. We have taken your recommendations from last months survey and have created what we are sure will be an even stronger Winter Clubs program.
Our SPARCS Clubs will be focussing more on the software this semester, looking at the many programming languages that are being used in technology today. This will include a great new Codemakers: Retro Gaming Club in which participants will have the opportunity to program their own text-based adventure game on a portable gaming arduino system.
For more information on all of our Clubs check out the information page at scienceventure.ca/clubs/about
Do you have a participant in our Clubs this semester? Then don't miss our Convocation and/or Techsplorium events this weekend!
Have you been eagerly awaiting an announcement about Winter 2016 Clubs?
Well your wait will soon be over!
Tune into our Website and Social Media on Tuesday, November 24th to find out about the Clubs we will be offering next semester!
Filming for our first ever episode of 60 Second Science Venture (or SSSV for short) has begun! We can't wait to premiere it at the 2016 Actua National Conference in Ottawa this January.
We would like to send a big thank you out to all parents/guardians who participated in our Fall Clubs Survey. Your input will help us to build an even better program and to further improve the experience of your participant at Science Venture Clubs! We will be announcing the winner of our Free Club Session this Wednesday alongside our announcements about Winter Clubs!
A reminder to all parents and participants that there are no SPARCS or Venture Clubs taking place this weekend, due to the University of Victoria's reading break and Remembrance Day. See you next weekend!
Date: September 16, 2015 Time: 7:57am PT
Location: In transit to Ogden Point, BC Canada
Today is my last morning aboard the E/V Nautilus. On Tuesday evening, our last dive in the Strait of Georgia was exploring a glass sponge reef. The unique glass sponge reefs, off the coast of BC, are some of the shallowest reefs in the world. Glass sponges get their name from being very brittle and can be broken easily. BC recently created regulations to stop bottom fishing around these reefs. Glass grow on top of the skeletons of dead glass sponges forming these reefs, which is not see in other types of sponges. It was amazing to end the last dive of the season for the E/V Nautilus seeing these unusual creatures.
Both Remotely Operated underwater Vehicles (ROVs), Hercules and Argus, work together to bring the amazing video footage to the E/V Nautilus. Some ROVs have challenges when they are directly tethered to their ship. Argus is the tethered to the back of the E/V Nautilus and usually sits directly below the ship. From Argus there is a tether to Hercules that carries power and commutations to and from the ship. Hercules was designed for delicate work, but needs the tether to the ship. If it was directly tethered to the ship Hercules, would get moved every time the ship hits a wave. But Argus was designed to be very heavy so it absorbs the movement from the ship and then the tether from Argus to Hercules has no movement from the ship. Hercules can do very delicate work when exploring, since it is freed from the movement of the ship.
Hercules has two hydraulic arms which are used for a variety of tasks. On this mission, the arms were used to disconnect cables, and attach hooks to platforms for retrieval. For some missions, Hercules will have two bio boxes on board to bring back biology or geology samples. On this mission, the boxes were used to bring back ropes bungy cords so that nothing was left on the ocean floor.
It's been an amazing opportunity to be on board the E/V Nautilus and watching Hercules complete the maintenance on the Venus network. A big thank you to Ocean Networks Canada for asking Science Venture to be part of this leg of the mission.
If you received an email this evening entitled "Update on Wait-listed Participants for Fall 2015 Clubs Program", this is an informational email for PREVIOUSLY wait-listed clubs program participants. This DOES NOT indicate that your participant has been moved to a wait-list.
We are also aware that our system sent multiple duplicate emails this evening. Please accept our sincerest apologies while we implement this new system and work to improve communication for the future.
Date: September 14, 2015 Time: 8:57am PT
Location: East Node, Strait of Georgia, BC Canada
Today the E/V Nautilus is in the Strait of Georgia at the East Node, in sight of Tsawwassen. The ship is deploying two hydrophone platforms for Ocean Networks Canada. The platforms work together to track noises in the Strait of Georgia. This audio can be used by scientists to hear what wildlife and ship traffic is in the area. The area has a diversity in life that including whales, dolphins and salmon. The Tsawwassen / Vancouver area also has the busiest port in Canada. Finding how much the human made noises is affecting marine life in the Strait of Georgia is important to maintaining the ecosystem here.
The hydrophone platforms have some interesting features in the their design to lower acoustic volume. Over the hydrophone is a yellow sock, a piece of fabric, which keeps the water flow off the hydrophone. It's like if someone were wearing a headset mic without foam covering the microphones' diaphragm. If the person blew on the microphone, there would be a loud wind noise coming out over the speakers. But, if they put the foam back on the microphone there would be less wind noise on the audio. The same is happening on the hydrophone with the yellow sock, but instead of wind, it's water flow.
Another interesting feature is the way the platform keeps the support pipes from vibrating and making more noise for the hydrophone to pick up. The pipes are wrapped in rope and covered in black tape to hold the rope in place. This breaks up the water flow around the pipes, minimizing the vibrations, which the hydrophone would pick up. The whole platform is designed to get the best acoustic audio.
Ocean Networks Canada has audio clips on their website with a variety of underwater sounds. Some of the sounds include wildlife, like whales and dolphins. Interestingly, in one Arctic location, the hydrophone was even able to hear the ice breaking! Other hydrophones have been known to pick-up earthquakes as they are coming into the area. Here is a link to the sounds on the Ocean Networks Canada website. http://www.oceannetworks.ca/sounds-deep
Tomorrow we will be heading back over to the Delta Dynamics Observatory Laboratory where a platform will be brought back on ship for repair and then redeployed.
Science Venture is a network member organization of Actua. Actua provides training, resources and support to its national network of members located at universities and colleges across Canada in the delivery of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education outreach programming. Each year, these members engage over 460,000 youth in 600 communities nationwide. Please visit Actua at www.actua.ca.
