CBC’s Quirks and Quarks host Bob McDonald (r) talks about the fun of science with North Bay Regional Science Fair committee member Susan Terry.
The North Bay Regional Science Fair committee played host to CBC’s Quirks and Quarks host Bob McDonald today at the Capitol Centre.
McDonald, who has been sharing his love of science internationally through television, radio, print and live presentations for more than 30 years, was in town to present ‘Explore the Wonders of Science,’ to help the committee raise $15,000 in funds for the upcoming local Science Fair, as well as send the area’s top five students to the Canada-wide Science Fair.
The Gemini-nominated host dedicated his morning show to help engage elementary students to the wonders of Science, while he focused the afternoon show to re-igniting the passion for science in our youth and adults. Thanks to McDonald 700 area students found out that science doesn’t have to be dry and stuffy.
“I don’t think it’s difficult if you have enthusiasm for it, and if you have a sense of humour about it, and if you can relate science to everyday life and that is just what I was trying to do,” states the science guru.
“Showing how you can find science in a broom, in a piece of paper and the idea of having fun with science ... it doesn’t have to be complicated and awkward and focusing on formulas and mathematics and all of that ... because you can have fun with it, so I was talking about sports and space and things you can do with good science and really enjoy it. And it is also has a way to look at the world, an exquisite way of looking at the world.”
Officials expect that over 500,000 students nationwide will challenge their science savvy in local and regional science fairs in March and early April vying for a spot at the national championships, the Canada-Wide Science Fair (CWSF) this May in Ottawa. McDonald says it is exciting to see young minds at work.
“They are the future and a lot of them worry about the changes that they are hearing about, climate change, and over population, and food, and what’s going to happen with our water and all of that,” he explains.
“And it’s because of our science and technology that got us into those problems, it’s because of science that we even know about them ... we didn’t know about the ozone hole until we sent the space craft up there to look at things, we didn’t know about El Niño ocean currents until we had instruments to measure them. And so I believe that it will be through science, education, and creative technology that we can engineer our way out of those problems ... and come to other ways to turning wheels in cars and other ways of heating ourselves and other ways of managing out energy that won’t have as much impact our planet, that’s just engineering and we can do that.”
And with the 45th Annual North Bay Regional Science Fair taking place Wednesday, April 2, 2008, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., in the Canadore College gymnasium, McDonald offers a simple piece of advice to the young competitors.
“Keep a scientific mind, you don’t have to become a scientist, heaven forbid the world is overrun with scientists,” he laughs.
“But the scientific way of thinking ...where you ask a question then you seek the answer through a very methodological way of just looking ... going through the scientific method, experiment if it fails find out what failed and experiment again ... come to some kind of conclusion and talk about it with your friends.”
