Science

Bring an an actor right into your classroom and they will lead your class in an exploration of science.

NEW!!  The program is available as a 2 day program involving 4 classes per day acting out units from the Alberta Gr. 1-6 Science Curriculum. The artist will use a slide show on the smart board to show the science and then will lead the class in the process of acting out the science. This creates a fun, exciting learning opportunity and long lasting memories of the science.  Schools will be able to book multiple 2 day blocks with different content possible each time. The program can also be booked as a shorter experience, for 4 classes on day 1 and 4 different classes on day 2. 

This program is new and is being offered in this testing cycle at a 70% discount due to support from many of our funders..

Please note: This program is only available at this time to Calgary Schools.   

BOOKING SOON for spring 2024!!   For more information call: 403.288-9393.

New Alberta Curriculum

Grade 1

MATTER
Available

We look at how properties of an object can be altered. We’ll do this by building things together. We’ll be both the objects and the builders. We’’ll measure, bend,  twist, cut and shape the objects we need in order to create things like backyards, castles and magical places.

ENERGY
Coming Soon

In this workshop we’ll look at how the movement of objects and animals can be understood. To do this we’ll act out the way animals move in different seasons. We’ll also be different objects and see how surface texture and shape affect movement and how various objects interact with each other.

EARTH SYSTEMS
Available

As part of our understanding of the living world, we’ll explore how environments can change. The seasons will be explored, as well as seasonal changes in plants and animals. We’ll also look at migration and hibernation and what we can learn about environments through our senses.

LIVING SYSTEMS
Coming Soon

How do plants and animals survive? That’s a great question and so much fun to learn about through theater. Students will learn that plants and animals require environments that allow them to meet their needs and they all interact together.

Grade 2

MATTER
Available

We’ll explore how the suitability of materials can be determined for specific purposes. To do this, we’ll make objects with our bodies. We’ll  test to see if light goes through or is reflected,, we’ll see if the material holds water or if it is windproof. We’ll also look at man made and natural materials.

ENERGY
Coming Soon

Learning about light and sound through theatre works really well because it can be hard to understand the inner workings of both.  In this workshop students will act out the behaviors of light and sound by “being the light and sound”. Super fun and a great way to understand the science.

EARTH SYSTEMS
Available

The big question here is – how can  Earth’s components and relationship to the Sun be understood? We can do this by acting it out. We can explore the landforms found on earth, explore waterways and learn about the relationship between time, the earth and the sun.

LIVING SYSTEMS
Coming Soon

Super fun to act out – How do plants and animals live and grow?  We can explore how humans affect plants and animals – good and bad, as well as look at plant and animal life cycles.   We can also look at how we relate to the land affects cultural practices.

Grade 3

MATTER
Available

How can materials Change? They can be melted, frozen, evaporated, condensed and more. They can move from one state of matter to another. They can be changed permanently or temporarily. We can also use materials in their natural state or process them. We’ll also look at the water cycle.

ENERGY
Coming Soon

May the force be with you!  In this workshop we look at how forces relate to changes in Movement.  We’ll see that forces can affect properties and movement in different ways and that simple machines can change the strength and direction of forces.

EARTH SYSTEMS
Available

The Guiding Question is –   What visible changes can be identified by examining Earth’s surface? Students will explore glaciers, earthquakes, floods, and all the ways that earth changes over time. They will act out wind and water changing the landscape and also discover that by digging up earth’s layers, we can find fossils.

LIVING SYSTEMS
Coming Soon

We explore the guiding question – How do plants and animals interact? Students will act our food chains, and develop an awareness and consideration of the interactions of plants and animals in local environments and how humans can help protect them.

Grade 4

MATTER

Available

The guiding question is  – How can materials be managed safely? This leads us into acting out waste management processes and looking at how responsible methods of waste management can reduce negative environmental impacts. In there we also look at handling dangerous materials.

ENERGY

Coming Soon

Big guiding question – How can forces affect objects without contact? Gravitational force and magnetic force will be acted out and made visible. These are things that are hard to see, but when acted out become a lot clearer.

EARTH SYSTEMS
Available

More big questions – How does Earth sustain life?  Lithosphere, atmosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere – they all interact. The earth is warmed by the sun- without the sun a lot of life would disappear. Water – we all need it – plants and animals. We are all interconnected.

LIVING SYSTEMS
Coming soon

The guiding question is – In what ways do the structures of organisms support survival? 

We’ll explore how a variety of organisms live on Earth and have external structures that support various functions – these are things like leaves, stems, claws, beaks, legs, shell and skins.

SPACE

Coming Soon

The final frontier. How do objects in space impact daily life? More than we realize. For centuries we have used stars to help us travel. We have used various technologies to do so. We have told stories about the sun, moon and planets. We have used a lunar calendar – and some cultures do so today.

Grade 5

MATTER

Coming Soon

ENERGY

Coming Soon

EARTH SYSTEMS
Coming Soon

LIVING SYSTEMS
Coming soon

SPACE

Coming Soon

Grade 6

MATTER

Coming Soon

ENERGY

Coming Soon

EARTH SYSTEMS
Coming Soon

LIVING SYSTEMS
Coming soon

SPACE

Coming Soon

Old Alberta Curriculum

Grade 1

CREATING
COLOUR

 Learn about mixing colours; how to sort colours; understand transparent, translucent, and opaque; how paint goes onto different surfaces; how to make colour from plants; and how to separate sunlight into colour. We’ll act everything out – so much fun! 

BUILDING
THINGS

We’ll build backyards and parks and lots more. We’ll be different materials, and we’ll populate what we build with animals and people. We’ll create parts and put things together in different ways. We’ll create magical worlds as play our way through a world of building things.

SEASONAL
CHANGES

Students will learn about changes in sunlight and weather; we’ll look at how to track changes in weather; we’ll act out how seasonal change affects animals and birds; and what it means to hibernate, grow a thicker coat or turn colour – all as adaptations to seasonal change.

Grade 2

EXPLORING
LIQUIDS

What liquids mix together? Which liquids are heavier? How do we describe liquids?How do liquids get absorbed? How does evaporation work? What are the states of water? How do we change water from one state to another? How to do we keep our water clean? What contains water? We have ways to act all of this out in the classroom.

MAGNETISM

Acting out magnets is really “attractive”.  Students will be the magnetic force, they’ll learn that the force can go through materials. They’ll learn how a magnet’s force diminishes over distance. Students will learn what kinds of things are attracted to magnets and which ones are not. They will also learn how to compare the strength of magnets.

HOT AND COLD
TEMPERATURES

Students will learn how materials can be changed by heating and cooling. They will learn that thermometers can be used to find out the temperature of something. They’ll measure the temperature as they travel around the world to places hot and cold, experience temperature changes and learn how to stay comfortable in them.

Grade 3

ROCKS AND MINERALS

Students will have a blast learning about the rock cycle and how it involves big forces as well as little ones – from wind and rain to volcanoes. Students will learn how igneous, metamorphic and Sedimentary rock are formed. They learn how to describe rocks and talk about their qualities.

HEARING AND SOUND

From echolocation to the properties of sound waves, we have it covered. Students will be sound waves travelling, bats sending out sounds, sound being absorbed, sound being reflected; they’ll be sound waves making it through the ear to the eardrum, and they’ll surf the sound waves’ amplitude. It will be “gnarly” dude.

ANIMAL LIFE CYCLES

So many lifecycles to act out. So many things that affect them. Short cycles and long ones.  Students will act out the cycles in connection with each animal’s surroundings. Students will learn that certain animals only exist in specific conditions. They’ll learn what environmental situations support or weaken animals. They’ll learn  how human activity affects animal lifecycles.

Grade 4

LIGHT AND SHADOW

In this unit we become light rays and interact with the world. We see what happens in a prism –  how light can be broken into different colours. We’ll look at the path of light and how it is directed by the shape of a mirror.  We also explore  how light is affected by transparent, translucent and opaque materials and casts shadows that are predictable.  Light and shadow – a world of cause and effect.

WASTE IN OUR WORLD

In the land of waste the decomposers play a big role. Students will learn how nature creates waste and then processes. it.  They will also explore how humans create and deal with waste, including waste that breaks down easily and waste that is toxic. From recycling to smokestack scrubbers, water filters to composting facilities, we’ll look at the challenges of dealing with waste in our world.

PLANT GROWTH CHANGES

Being a healthy plant means you need a lot of things to go right. Students will be the plants and the “conditions” that affect them – the light, the soil, the temperature, the water. We’ll also look at how humans use plants for food, clothing and shelter as well as windbreaks and erosion control. Another really fun thing to explore is how seeds get moved from place to place. There is some great drama there.

Grade 5

ELECTRICITY AND MAGNETISM

Students get pretty charged up when they act out things related to electricity. We’ll be making circuits, adding fuses, changing batteries from parallel to series and adding switches as we power up boomboxes to make sound. We’ll also take a look at how power is generated from various sources like water, gas, coal and the sun. Of course we’ll also act out amps., volts and watts. Shockingly fun.

CLASSROOM CHEMISTRY

Mix it up and see what happens. That’s what we are doing when we explore classroom chemistry. What mixes, what doesn’t- why?  What happens when liquids evaporate and leave behind the solids?  When things change, can the original components be recovered? Discover your lab scientist personna as we explore the inner world of chemical reactions.

WEATHER WATCH

What is a hurricane, a tornado, a storm front?  How does a Chinook Arch form?   How does hail form? Find out in the this unit.   We’ll also look at how to measure weather, understand the difference between weather and climate and take a look at how humans affect weather by things like greenhouse gas production. 

Grade 6

AIR AND AERODYNAMICS

Students will go to Air molecule boot camp to learn the properties of air.  They’ll get compressed in the compressor, heated up in the hot air ballon and they’ll provide resistance and lift.  Students will also learn about Bernoulli’s principle by acting it out. Get ready to fly.

EVIDENCE AND INVESTIGATION

If there ever was a unit that was suited to acting things out – this is it. Teams of students will provide clues for other students to solve the investigation by providing types of evidence. Get your Sherlock hat on and have fun.

 

SKY SCIENCE

Acting out phases of the moon  makes this science so understandable.  Students will act out an eclipse of the moon and the sun,  look at the affect of the moon on tides and look at the phases of the moon and how they are created. It’s a stellar way to learn these things.

Book Today!

Fill out the booking form below and get started!

*Prices are for the two day workshop and include one artist on-site for the program.

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What Teachers are Saying

It works because students better remember what they actually do. We can come closer to a more complete understanding of how things work by acting them out.

It enhances all student learning by providing a methodology for kinaesthetic learning.

Trickster Theatre helps students understand science concepts through acting and movement!

- Kelly, Janet Johnstone School, Calgary

2020-21

This was an awesome way to the cover many of the outcomes in the Sound and Hearing unit! I didn't know that echolocation, sound waves, amplitude, volume and vibrations could be so fun and interactive!

- Marie, Glenbow Elementary, Cochrane

2021-22

Trickster Ryan did a great job of leading the 4 sessions for my 2 classes. He was very accommodating in sharing the teaching portions and was very good at speaking to the class. He was a definite factor in my enjoyment of participating in this project.

- Shane, Ernest Morrow School, Calgary

2021-22

Great job. Our presenter was very engaging and personable. By the end, our students were able to demonstrate the concepts through movement.

- Jeremy, Valley Creek School, Calgary

2021-22

Giving students a chance to act out "out of this world" concepts is a great way to solidify their understanding of complex processes.

Regan, Greentree School, Drumheller

2021-22

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