Creating Cultural Connections Students Dive into Moon Phases and Solar Engineering

The Creating Cultural Connections students, alongside Multilingual Language Learner (MLL) teachers, had the wonderful opportunity to partner once again with the Ontario Tech University Let’s Talk Science outreach team for an engaging presentation and hands‑on workshop. This session focused on a space theme, with particular attention to the phases of the moon and the ways different cultures around the world rely on the lunar calendar for celebrations.

Given that the group consists of Arabic‑speaking multilingual learners, the students were pleasantly surprised and deeply appreciative that the presentation was delivered in both Arabic and English. This thoughtful approach helped ensure full participation, meaningful connection to the content, and a welcoming learning environment.

Students took part in two major Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) activities:

• Moon Phase Craft: Learners explored the lunar cycle and represented the phases of the moon through a creative hands-on project.
• Solar-Powered Lander Challenge: Working collaboratively, groups engineered and tested their own solar-powered land rovers. Every single group’s lander successfully touched down!

A heartfelt thank‑you to the incredible outreach team from Ontario Tech University: Let’s Talk Science for providing another rich, inclusive, and inspiring STEM experience for our MLLs. Opportunities like this not only build scientific understanding but also affirm students’ identities, languages, and cultural knowledge.