A year after the group transformed Downtown Guelph into a scale map of the solar system, Royal City Science is back with a new activity to engage junior scientists over the holiday break.
The 12 Days of Puzzlement challenge invites kids and families to complete a different science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) themed puzzle online each day between Dec. 20 and Jan. 1.
Upon solving each puzzle, players will unlock a code. On Jan. 1, the 12 codes can be used to complete a final challenge which will lead to a treasure chest full of "STEM swag" somewhere in Guelph, said organizer Orbax Thomas.
Grand prizes donated by local businesses will also be given away in an online draw
Thomas is a production specialist in the University of Guelph's physics department and the co-founder of Royal City Science, a non-profit which hopes to eventually build a science centre in Guelph.
"As we ramp ourselves up to hopefully doing that soon, we are providing free programming for people in the area," said Thomas.
Like the group's ultimate goal of a brick and mortar science centre, "the whole idea behind" activities like the 12 Days of Puzzlement "is to make science accessible," Thomas said.
"I find that young people get turned off by science at a young age for a variety of reasons," he said. "Sometimes it's just they can find it kind of boring. It's easy for people to have challenges laid out in front of them, they can't solve them easily and it just kind of gets frustrating for them."
"What we're trying to do is to make science fun, make science interesting, and to show people that there's a whole breadth of topics within it," he continued.
Puzzles in this year's challenge were created by Royal City Science members — scientists and science educators whose expertise spans zoology, biology, chemistry, physics, astronomy and math.
Prospective puzzlers can access the daily challenges — offered at either an 'apprentice' or 'expert' level — starting Monday Dec. 20 on Royal City Science's website.
More than just fun, the impacts of getting young people interested in science can be far reaching, Thomas explained.
"You never know," he said. "People who are inspired to work on this stuff today might be your doctors and astronauts of tomorrow."
