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In Saskatoon, Halloween is becoming a time for haunted, hands-on learning.
Buena Vista School was one of many schools participating in a citywide event on Friday, enthralling students with dry ice demonstrations in celebration of Halloween.
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For the past four years, retired educator and lead organizer David Crowell said it’s been an opportunity to celebrate the season while mixing in some edutainment.
“Halloween in every school is always a really exciting time,” He explained. “We wanted to be able to give them dry ice material and a series of activities to make science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fun.”
This year, Crowell said they purchased 7,000 pounds of dry ice from Linde Canada for distribution across Saskatoon.
He added that 170 teachers signed up, with as many as 250 to 300 educators involved in the project.
“If we can invest in the first year of a teacher and get them engaged, it’s allowing them to see themselves as STEM experts in their own rooms and help them along the way,” Crowell said.
Students at Buena Vista packed two auditoriums on Friday to participate. Most wore costumes while joining in the demonstration alongside classmates and friends.
Teacher and lead demonstrator Brad Watts said they kids enjoyed learning about sublimation and density through a series of experiments.
“They had to take the dry ice, put it in a bottle with some water,” Watts explained. “They put a balloon on the top, and it inflates. Then they blow a second balloon, and you can actually feel the weight difference.”
Students said they particularly enjoyed making large dry ice bubbles using the material, soap and a mixing bowl.
It was teacher Haley Kretzer’s first time participating in the demonstration. She joined volunteers from Chris Clark’s place-based learning class at the University of Saskatchewan.
“This is my first year at Buena Vista,” Kretzer said. “It’s really great to see the number of students who are participating and engaged. It’s awesome!”
She added that Buena Vista is focused on experiential learning and nature-based activities.
“I think it’s a lot more memorable for students to be able to have that hands-on experience instead of just watching someone do it on a video or watching it from the front.”
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