Actua and University of Toronto to host 1,400 kids at Innovate U

The University of Toronto Department of Engineering, Google, and Canadian charity Actua, will be hosting more than 1,400 Grade 3-8 students on Friday, May 13, at Innovate U, a day-long event celebrating science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) and innovation for kids.
Incorporating hands-on activities, students and teachers from 45 classes across the Toronto District School Board will take a tour of recent developments in technology, including 3D printing, solar cars, smartphones, while immersed in a post-secondary setting.
The students will be visiting exhibits and demonstrations of a student-built Indy 500 race car, Google’s Cardboard low-tech VR goggles, 3D Selfies and Code Created Music, among other things.
Ann Makosinski, recipient of the inaugural $50,000 Quest Climate Grant handed out by Shell Canada, Canadian Geographic and the MaRS Discovery District to young entrepreneurs, will deliver a talk at the beginning of the day.
Her battery-free “Hollow Flashlight” invention, which generates light from the heat of the human hand, was recognized for its potential to mitigate climate change.
Makosinski is currently working on her latest invention, the eDrink, a mobile phone-charging travel mug.
Actua stages summer camps, classroom workshops, clubs and community outreach activities through a national network of 33 Canadian post-secondary institutions, reaching 225,000 youth each year in every province and territory.
Actua’s Codemakers program is sponsored by Google, and it presents several initiatives designed to reach out to youth traditionally neglected by math and science education, including its National Aboriginal Outreach Program, National Girls Program, and its Go Where Kids Are Program.
Innovate U starts at 9:00 on Friday, May 13, at the University of Toronto’s Convocation Hall and continues at the Bahen Centre.