Drum dancing and science: Tuktoyaktuk summer camp pairs STEM with traditional skills

On a rainy Thursday in Tuktoyaktuk, N.W.T., last week a group of children, using paper and a sewing needle, built an amplifier for the turntables they were learning to make.

It was part of a four-week camp in July that incorporates traditional learning with science, technology, engineering and math — also known as the STEM fields.

"I'm finding it amazing," said 10 year-old Olivia King, who was part of the camp. "The people here are amazing, they really do care about everyone. Make sure they're safe."

Making turntables was part of the music and storytelling part of the camp, where King and over 15 youth in Tuktoyaktuk learned about the history of recording music. The day was incorporated with local elders giving drum dancing lessons.

Another week, the group learned about planting seeds.

One activity, and King's favourite project, was in the final week of the camp where they worked with university and college students on STEM projects, including making planets out of paper mache while learning about the solar system.

That week was a youth-to-youth national initiative called Actua Canada, which travels throughout the country delivering youth camps designed to break down barriers to youth participation in science, engineering and technology. The Inuvialuit Regional Corporation (IRC) invited the Actua members.

"We're very thankful to have their resources and be able to work with them," said Vivianne Kupovics, a student from Montreal who is one of three students who came with Actua. "It's fantastic, and it really helps the kids have strong structure as well."

The team, through various activities, taught coding and robotics, and did projects with the kids like making pretend volcanoes, rockets, and instruments.

"It helps the kids so they have an understanding," said Kupovics. 

For over a decade, the Actua has been delivering STEM programs across the N.W.T.

Meeka Steen is the IRC summer camp lead in Tuktoyaktuk for ages five to 12. 

"The kids really enjoy it because it's things that they've never seen or done before," she said, referring to listening to vinyl records and learning how it works.

Steen said some STEM activities helped her and local educators in bringing new ideas to the community.