"I hear and I forget. I see and I remember.
I do and I understand." - Confucius
Students on the Beamline (SotB) is an opportunity for high school students to “DO” science. As they go through the scientific process, the students themselves make the decisions and create a novel research project. Each group is paired with mentor or expert who provides advice to help students develop their research, but ultimately the students are the scientists. They conduct the experiment, make sense of the data, and present their own research. Check out the Projects section to see just how far reaching SotB is!
The Canadian Light Source is proud to offer SotB, an innovative and award-winning program, and we acknowledge the support of the Natural Sciences
and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) PromoScience to make
this possible.
Important Things to Consider
- A research project can take anywhere from a year to two years to complete. Each group is unique.
- The research project is a team effort. The group should be made up of diverse students that bring with them various skills and talents.
- Students must be 14 years of age or older.
- The research project is for any student – we do not look at grades as a criteria or requirement to be part of the program.
- This is not only a great science research experience for the students, but also provides teachers an immersive inquiry teaching experience.
- You can check out our SotB Corner for a table with previous group examples, along with additional helpful info!
Getting Started
Attend the Canadian Light Source Educators' Workshop
*** Next Educators' Workshop is tentatively December 2023 (In Person)
Teachers are required to have training before applying to participate in SotB. This training is typically delivered through the annual Canadian Light Source Educators’ Workshop. This workshop ensures that you understand what the Canadian Light Source is, how the atmosphere and environment at the Canadian Light Source may impact your students, understanding our guiding philosophies, and you have an opportunity to connect with the Education staff.
We also sometimes offer one-day training to those teachers that are eligible (have connected with Education programs in the past or attended a virtual Educators' Workshop) and are looking to schedule that in early 2023. Subscribe to our mailing list to stay in the loop.
Submit an Educational Proposal
*** Submission date is April 30th 2023, for groups hoping to come in 2023/2024 or 2024/2025 school years. This reflects changes we have made to our Form (see Guides).
The Educational Proposal, written by the teacher, focuses on the expected education outcomes of the SotB experience, with an accompanying science idea. New this year, is additional sections on Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) and Reconcilation, to reflect the current changing landscape of science and science education. These new sections are not marked as part of the proposal score at this time. As always, part of our goal is to ensure that the selected mentors and Canadian Light Source staff support the uniqueness of the student group by providing guidance, as well as advice on the scientific process as students develop their research project. Take a look at our guides for additional support and examples to view.
Please note, there is a limited amount of beamtime, science mentorship support, and funding, which results in participating in SotB as a competitive process. Be sure to take a look at the operations schedule to see when CLS has beam available (you will be looking for green day shifts). We cannot guarantee you will receive the time you ask if your proposal is accepted but having a sense of the time frames that would work best for your student group will help us in scheduling.
*** The Education Team has updated the SotB Application and proposal intake date (see previous step). Please take a look at the Information Guide which helps outline these new changes.
To better understand the criteria we are looking for, we encourage you to take a look at our Educational Proposal Guide and the Educational Proposal Exemplar before filling out the application form and e-mailing it to the Education Team.
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Educational Proposal Information
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Educational Proposal Application Form
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Projects
From All Across Canada, and Globally!
Since 2006, more than 110 student groups have been immersed within the scientific community and have partaken in SotB with the CLS. These groups have come from all across Canada, including British Columbia, Treaty 6 and the Homeland of the Métis, Nova Scotia, and the Yukon. Since 2021, we have now expanded SotB internationally! Below we highlight the more recent student projects and encourage you to take a look at their seminars as well as explore the complete SotB project database.
Recent Project Highlights
Markham, ON / Treaty 13
Students from Unionville High School are interested in the impact of fast fashion. In their preliminary literature search they found that elements like Cadmium, Mercury, and Lead are sometimes found in products created for the fast fashion industry. They are investigating if these elements of concern from clothing creation persist in the final product as they may pose a concern for the environment and human health. These students are using the IDEAS beamline to investigate further if clothing, specifically children's and women's, contain these elements. The clothes were tested in their natural state after purchasing, after being washed in two different temperatures, as well as with and without detergent.
Check out their seminar here. <update link <
Montreal, QC / Unceded Indigenous lands of the Kanien'kehà:ka and Mohawk Nation
Students from Pensionnat du Saint-Nom-de-Marie are interested in the ability of the red kuri squash (Cucurbita maxima), frequently used in Indigenous cuisine, to absorb heavy metals (HM) while growing was studied to know if the squash is a good plant for phytoremediation (the decontamination of soil with vegetation) and if a fruit grown in a contaminated soil is safe to consume. The presence of HM in soil can be dangerous because of the ability of plants, animals and humans to accumulate them in their organisms and have their bodies’ functioning impaired (Jaishankar et al., 2014, paragr. 1). By analyzing our samples, we want to determine how good of a phytoremediator for lead (Pb), copper (Cu), nickel (Ni) and zinc (Zn) and if this plant is, how HM disperse themselves in the plant and if a fruit grown in contaminated soil is safe to eat. We contaminated the soil with between 300 ppm and 1000 ppm of HM. Students from PSNM collected various samples such as flowers, leaves, stems, soil, roots and fruits to determine if annual plants can decontaminate soil and serve as a safe food source using the IDEAS beamline.
Check out their seminar here.
Halifax, NS / Unceded territory of the Mi’kmaq
Students from Halifax Grammar School are interested in how dandelions absorb heavy metals such as lead, since dandelions are used in sustainable diets. They hand-picked dandelions from popular urban play spaces, repotted the dandelions, and treated the dandelions with various concentrations of lead. With the help of Dr. Joyce McBeth, University of Regina Assistant Professor in Geology and David Lewis a PhD student at St. Mary’s University, these students are using the IDEAS beamline to look at how treatment of the dandelions with lead impacted lead and other metal absorption.
Check out their seminar here.
Looking for More Projects?
These are just a few examples of the more recent projects with our Students on the Beamline groups. There are more projects, media communications, and even videos on the various previous projects completed this year and through out the years. Take a look!
Poster Competition
Our Students on the Beamlines program gives an authentic and immersive science research experience for students, which includes communicating experimental findings with a scientific poster. We host an annual Students on the Beamline Scientific Poster Competition, either in the spring or fall, for student groups who have conducted research at the Canadian Light Source within the last year. There are four competitions: Judges' Vote, Peer-Review, Staff Pick, and Public Vote. The winner of the Judges' Vote receives a trophy that they can display at their school and the winner of the Peer-Review receives a plaque they get to keep.
Looking for ways to enhance the design of your scientific poster?
Click below to find resources that can help you out!