Young students lead the way at DCS learning fair
The gym at Dorchester Consolidated School was buzzing this week as Kindergarten to Grade 2 students took the lead in a hands-on learning fair, proudly sharing what they’ve been exploring about the five senses.
It was the final chapter in a year-long collaboration with Mount Allison University’s Together Time initiative – an intergenerational, interdisciplinary program designed to bring STEAMM learning (science, technology, engineering, art, math, and music) directly into rural classrooms.
“Together Time is an intergenerational interdisciplinary learning program,”
said co-director Jill Rourke, who also teaches Chemistry and Biochemistry at Mount Allison University.
“The overarching theme… is to see kids engaged in multimodal literacies in their schools, in their community, in their homes.”
That mission has played out in multiple ways throughout the school year – through campus visits, guest volunteers, and the use of “Story Sacks,” curated kits of books and tactile materials that spark curiosity at home and in the classroom.
Rourke said a key part of the program’s success has been eliminating barriers to participation. “We really wanted to bring that excitement directly to the kids… so that everyone could be engaged as meaningfully as possible.”
Fellow co-director Kiera Galway agrees. She is the co-director of the Together Time initiative and a faculty member in the Department of Music at Mount Allison University.
“The learners are so comfortable in their classrooms… they’re more focused. Also, they’re kind of excited to… show you their space.”
At the learning fair, that comfort was on full display. The little learners had a lot to say about their favourite parts of the fair:
Xaebra: “Instead of staring at a screen, you’re walking around and listening and playing with stuff and seeing what it is basically.”
Penelope: “We had taste, um, hearing, smell, um, touch and we had sight.”
Emmett: “So there’s this sound wave over there and it’s really fun ’cause whenever you wiggle it, it, it goes along.”
Danika: “We get to touch these things that we never touched before.”
Ozmen: “Because it’s clay at the middle table at the end. It smells funny.
Reece: “We’ve been learning about our five senses. We would try it again and say what we thought it tasted like.
Charlie: “My favorite activity… about the taste… was when we were like putting those things in our mouth and then it tasted different.”
Majik: “We used mirrors with a flashlight… to hit the Lego character,”
Fourth-year Mount Allison commerce student, and intern Ryan Friars has been with ‘Together Time’ for three years.
“Seeing the kids light up is my favorite thing,” he said. “When they feel special, it makes me feel special.”
Volunteer Rajan Minocha-McKenney, a biochemistry student and volunteer, said bringing science into schools helps young kids see its place in their own lives.
“It’s a great opportunity… to be exposed to these cool different things they might not realize on their own.”
One Kindergarten student summed up the spirit of the day best, according to Majik.
“It was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G.”
📷‘s from the event:
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