ARTIE brings cool stuff to kids in the name of science (8 photos)

It's Thursday afternoon, and a group of students have packed into a classroom in order to watch a PUC water technician give demonstrations surrounding the city's water treatment process. 

The 25-minute crash course in water treatment is part of the annual Advanced Research and Technology Innovation Expo (ARTIE), which brought around 1,300 local elementary students students to Algoma University to check out the 15 participating exhibitors.   

“We’re talking about where we get our water from, how it’s treated, what we’re looking for if you call the PUC to your house with a problem,” said PUC communications and customer engagement manager Giordan Zin.

Over the past few years, PUC has used its Caution and Chance electrical safety program - a program that has been around to educate local children since the ‘80s - as the basis for its exhibit.  

“We’ve got a chunk of concrete that a live wire touched, and it basically turned it to glass,” said Zin. “It’s really cool to see.”

But this year, PUC has changed up its exhibit to include the water treatment process, as a way to further engage students in grades five through eight.

The Sault Ste. Marie Innovation Centre (SSMIC) says it tries to cover a lot of science and technology during the one-day event, which is now in its 12th year.  

“We try to take a different approach with involving different types of science - science with technology, science with the human body - so kids can really relate to different areas of what they want to study when they’re older, or interests that they have now,” said SSMIC marketing and communications manager Natasha DeActis.

This year’s exhibits included:

• Science North
• Centre for Invasive Species
• Algoma University
• Sault Ste. Marie Fire Services
• Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry
• Entomica
• Tulloch Engineering
• VEX Robotics
• Maker North
• Digital Creator North

“When we put out the call to get teachers involved, we sold out ARTIE in about three days, so it was really, really quick, and we’re super happy that so many teachers and schools want to be involved,” DeActis told SooToday. “The day has been absolutely phenomenal.”

This year marks the fifth year that ARTIE has been included as part of annual Sault Ste. Marie Science Festival, which takes place this week at Algoma University.