4-H Canada Youth Dive into Hands-on Science
Ottawa, ON – November 6, 2014 – 4-H Canada is pleased to announce the launch of innovative and hands-on programming that allows Canadian youth to dive into the fascinating field of science and technology.
By launching a new 4-H Science & Technology Leadership Development Pillar, 4-H Canada is encouraging youth to explore the amazing world of science and technology and apply the experiential skills they gain to their own lives. This cutting-edge new pillar will also help to provide accessible STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) education to youth in Canada through a fun and playful delivery vehicle.
One of the many new initiatives available to 4-H youth across the country is the 4-H Canada Science Contest, which kicked off October 17, 2014 in partnership with Bayer CropScience, and will run until January 16, 2015. 4-H clubs nationwide are invited to send in a submission based on the question, “If you could invent something that would change the world of agriculture, what would it be?” 4-H Canada is looking forward to seeing the brilliant ideas of youth brought to life through models, illustrations or blueprints.
Other exciting initiatives set to roll out over the next two years, with support from long-time 4-H partner Bayer CropScience, include the 2015 Youth-Ag Summit in Australia. As the follow-up to the inaugural Youth Ag-Summit, which was hosted in Canada’s own Calgary, AB in 2013, this amazing and inspiring event brings together young leaders from around the world to address food security by formulating and implementing ideas on “Feeding a Hungry Planet.”
“As a long-standing partner of 4-H, we believe in the work they are doing to ensure Canada’s leaders are interested and prepared for their future,” said Derrick Rozdeba, Manager, Marketing Communications with Bayer CropScience Inc. “Their venture into STEM programming aligns with our motto – ‘Science for a Better Life’ – and it’s important that today’s youth understand the vast opportunities available to them in Canadian agriculture.”
Yet another valuable new development for 4-H Canada will be enhanced participation at the Canada-Wide Science Fair. At the 2015 edition of this renowned event—and with support from Bayer CropScience—4-H Canada will be awarding scholarships to creative youth who enter a project centered on contributing to the field of agriculture. In 2016, 4-H Canada will have even greater involvement in the Canada-Wide Science Fair by developing an entire 4-H Canada Stream to encourage strong participation by 4-H’ers nationwide.
4-H Canada has also partnered up with Youth Science Canada in order to provide high quality, science-based training to 4-H club leaders and provincial staff. The 4-H Hands-on Science – Powered by Smarter Science workshops will inspire staff and leaders to bring science to life in a fun, interactive, and youth-oriented way. The workshops will also help increase 4-H Canada’s impact on youth and support capacity building of volunteers and professional staff. Each province will have a “science ambassador” who will help drive enthusiasm for incorporating science into everyday 4-H projects – thereby helping young leaders see the fascinating connection between the STEM fields and agriculture.
“Smarter Science engages youth in science while stimulating higher-order thinking skills,” said Brad McCabe, Executive Director at Youth Science Canada. “Using an inquiry-based instruction model encourages participating youth to develop their own questions, hypotheses, and experiments in a completely hands-on setting. This helps provide our youth with the necessary skills for the future job market.”
4-H Canada’s CEO, Shannon Benner, is proud of the new science-based programming and excited to see the positive impact it will have on today’s youth.
“Our new 4-H Science & Technology Leadership Development Pillar is all about providing exciting opportunities for young people to get inspired and enthusiastic about science,” said Benner. “We are pleased and honoured to have forged new partnerships with Youth Science Canada and Bayer CropScience. With their help and support, we are building young leaders who are engaged in science and equipped to be both current and future innovators.”
To learn more about 4-H Canada’s science initiatives, please visit www.4-H-Canada.ca.
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About 4-H Canada
For over 100 years, 4-H Canada has been one of the most highly respected positive youth development organizations in Canada. 4-H Canada has more than 25,000 members and 7,700 volunteers. Our goal is to help young Canadians “Learn To Do By Doing” in a safe, inclusive and fun environment. We believe in nurturing responsible, engaged and confident leaders who are committed to positively impacting their communities across Canada and around the world. To learn more about 4-H Canada, please visit www.4-H-Canada.ca.
About Youth Science Canada
Since 1962, Youth Science Canada has been Canada's leading organization for the promotion of innovation and celebration of excellence in science, engineering and technology among our nation's youth. A national, registered charitable organization, Youth Science Canada provides or partners in programs to increase awareness and involvement of youth in science, engineering and technology, to engage, mentor and recognize Canada’s young scientists, and to engage leading public and private sector organizations in the development of a national science, engineering and technology network of Canadian youth. For more information, please visit https://youthscience.ca.
About Bayer CropScience
Bayer is a global enterprise with core competencies in the fields of health care, agriculture and high-tech materials. This year the company looks back on 150 years of working to fulfill its mission “Bayer: Science For A Better Life”. Bayer CropScience, the subgroup of Bayer AG responsible for the agricultural business, has annual sales of EUR 8,383 million (2012) and is one of the world’s leading innovative crop science companies in the areas of seeds, crop protection and non-agricultural pest control. The company offers an outstanding range of products including high value seeds, innovative crop protection solutions based on chemical and biological modes of action as well as an extensive service backup for modern, sustainable agriculture. In the area of non-agricultural applications, Bayer CropScience has a broad portfolio of products and services to control pests from home and garden to forestry applications. The company has a global workforce of 20,800 and is represented in more than 120 countries. This and further news is available at: www.bayercropscience.ca.
For more information, media may contact:
Christine Moses, Marketing and Communications Manager
4-H Canada
cmoses@4-H-Canada.ca
613-759-1013 (ext 29)