Students at the Ghuch Tla Community School in Carcross got an out-of-this-world surprise last week when Canadian astronaut David Saint-Jacques stopped in for a visit.
The spaceman spent the morning telling kids about his years-long training to become an astronaut, and answering questions about space flight and aliens.
After lunch, Saint-Jacques teamed up with Ben Sanders, from the Yukon Government’s tech and telecom development directorate (aka T2D2) and Tanyss Knowles, from BYTE, to build robots with the kids, who then got to race them around the gymnasium.
The little gadgets consisted of a foam frame with two small electric wheels.
While they’re not as sophisticated as, say, the International Space Station’s Canadarm, Sanders said the idea is to find a way to get kids engaged in science beyond just memorizing periodic tables and math equations.
The robot building is part of a series of workshops T2D2 is hosting at community schools around the territory while it also engages with those communities to talk about 4G wireless networks and other tech-related wizardry.
Contact Jesse Winter at
jessew@yukon-news.com