Fall / Automne 2017 45 Experiencing Sections Con- gress again, it is clear that we have a huge amount of energy and resources. With any organization of our size, change can sometimes seem slow – but looking through the recommendations from 1999-2014, it’s amazing how many of those ideas are now implemented. Voting on the top three rec- ommendations worldwide is a privilege for only primary delegates, one from each sec- tion (MGA, regional and sec- ondary section delegates do not vote). During the closing ceremony on Sunday after- noon, the top three voted rec- ommendations were revealed. Again – just as in SC2014 in Amsterdam--one of our R7 recommendations was top voted. Congratulations, and thanks to all of the section and region volunteers that partici- pated in the process! Christopher Whitt JASCO Applied Sciences East Area Chair, IEEE Canada SC ‘17 Recommendations Development Coordinator for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” One session that hit on my pas- sion was a presentation entitled “Inspiring a New Generation of Engineers: Resources to Em- power Educators and Parents in Your Section.” This was based on the IEEE Teacher In-Service Program (TISP) and was pre- sented by Dr. Elizabeth Burd from the University of New- castle. Dr. Burd has experience doing TISP workshops in Eng- land, Europe, Australia, and India. She covered the range of resources currently available on the TryEngineering and Try- Computing websites, describing how these can be used. Among these resources are 134 lesson plans aligned with curriculum documentation. A number of these are already translated into other languages. One key takeaway from Dr. Burd’s presentation for me was the need to focus on promoting these resources with teachers versus trying to deliver them directly to the students. Teach- ers are trained and very capable in delivering educational pro- grams. However, many do not have the background to be com- fortable with delivering STEM programming. IEEE volunteers (a very limited resource) will gain the most leverage by help- ing put these resources into the teachers’ hands and sup- porting them to improve their curriculum offerings. Dr. Burd described how successful she has been with workshops for teachers in Australia and in Southeast Asia. We in Region 7 can emulate this to deliver the IEEE message and have an impact. These TryEngineering resources are also available to parents and that may be an un- tapped delivery channel for our volunteers. All session presentations are now available on the SC2017 website. You can also search the SC2017 Event Showcase page on IEEE.tv to find videos of some sessions. Members will be interested in the range of information available. Murray MacDonald Murray MacDonald Consulting Central Area Chair, IEEE Canada Recommendations response BY CHRISTOPHER WHITT continued from page 40 Recommendations response BY MURRAY MACDONALD continued from page 41 employees, and encourage active participation in the local section/chapters. Sections Congress 2017 gave me ideas, tools, and increased energy to put towards the Montreal Section. Amy Pinchuk InField Scientific Inc. Section Chair IEEE Montreal Recommendations response BY AMY PINCHUK continued from page 41 N.Ed.: Thanks to all our contributors for taking the time to send in their impressions. Much appreciation as well to Jonathan Palmer and Ritu Malhotra from North Saskatchewan Section for their help in writing the introduction. A thank-you also to Chien Dat Nguyen Dinh for help in gathering reports. There are STEM outreach activ- ities somewhere in Canada just about 52 weeks a year. The easiest way to join the action is through our IEEE Canada Teacher In-Service Program (TISP) Com- mittee, headed by Dirk Werle (dwerle@ca.inter.net). The major- ity of sections have TISP Groups. See http://tisp.ieee.ca for details. Some section affinity groups or- ganize STEM outreach events. In some instances, affinity groups and TISP committees jointly organize events A recent example of this was at a teachers’ “super con- ference” last month in Vancouver; that section’s TISP and WIE groups engaged with hun- dreds of attendees at their booth. Collaboration with other profes- sional associations has proved very succesful for TISP volunteers in London, Peterborough, Ottawa and Canadian Atlantic sections. The longest running STEM en- gagement in IEEE Canada is par- ticipation in the Science Teachers’ Association of Ontario annual conference. Initiated by Hamil- ton Section member Dave Hep- burn in the mid 2000s, he was subsequently joined by Patrick Finnigan of Toronto Section. Since formation of IEEE Canada’s TISP Com- mittee in 2008, the booth is now staffed by additional volunteers from London, Peterborough and Ottawa sections; workshops are al- so now part of the program. Direct engagement with pre-uni- versity students is another aspect of R7 STEM activity. The University of Manitoba’s Summer Space Camp and Research Discovery Spring Camp for Indigneous High School Students introduce participants to life-changing career options. Some specific section STEM in- itiatives will be explored in sub- sequent issues of this magazine. ■ ach events. tly ecent t a - n Associ confer ton Se bur was Pa Se TISP and STEM Outreach in Region 7 Wind turbine design was the lesson plan at this teacher workshop organized by Northern Can. Section’s Mooney Sherman and Rossitza Marinova. Photo: Mooney Sherman and Rossitza Marinova