Needs De: TELUS Spark Science Centre

International Women’s Day - Soldering Volunteer

Happy International Women’s Day! To celebrate, we will be hosting local women and gender diverse tradespeople. Come learn from the professionals and get empowered by amazing female leaders.

In this role, you will be supporting guests as they learn to solder. A soldering iron is a hot tool used to melt metal. This role includes:

Notes about the role: Soldering is a dangerous activity. Volunteers need to feel comfortable learning how to operate a soldering iron and wear the appropriate PPE (provided by Spark).

This is an active role where the volunteers will be walking/standing the majority of the shift to assist those soldering. Please wear comfortable shoes - Soldering is the burning of metal and can create a strong scent. Please be advised if you are signing up for this role. 

Location: In the Open Studio Gallery, in the BLUprint space. 

Must wear volunteer shirt, but if you want to include any accessories for International Women’s Day, feel free (as long as appropriate)

International Women’s Day - Cardboard Creation Support

Happy International Women’s Day! To celebrate, we will be hosting local women and gender diverse tradespeople. Come learn from the professionals and get empowered by amazing female leaders. In this role, volunteers will be supporting the Chompsaw activity. The chompsaw is a saw that functions like a whole punch meant to teach children about saws in a safe way. This role includes:

Notes about role: This is an active role where volunteers will be roaming on their feet between the chompsaw station and the decorating station. The chompsaw is a safe tool to use, but note that it can be loud when they’re all turned on at once.

Anyone operating the saw must wear safety goggles (which will be provided).

Location: In the Lego Lab, located towards the back of the Creative Kids Museum. 

Must wear volunteer shirt, but if you want to include any accessories for International Women’s Day, feel free (as long as appropriate)

International Women’s Day - Wood Burning Volunteer

Happy International Women’s Day!

To celebrate, we will be hosting local women and gender diverse tradespeople. Come learn from the professionals and get empowered by amazing female leaders. At this station, you will be supporting the wood-burning activity with staff, and also: 

Wood burning is a dangerous activity. Volunteers need to feel comfortable learning how to operate a wood burner and wearing the appropriate PPE (provided by Spark). Note, the wood burning often smells strong (typically like a campfire).

This is an active role where volunteers will spend the majority of the shift walking and standing to assist those soldering. Please wear comfortable shoes.

Location: In the 'Feature Gallery' located on the first floor. 

Must wear volunteer shirt, but if you want to include any accessories for International Women’s Day, feel free (as long as appropriate)

BLUprint highlights the connection between the professional trades and STEAM, allowing our guests to experience parts of the job within the skill trades and learning about the science within them. In this opportunity, you will have the opportunity to help facilitate our indoor bluprint space (within open studio) and help ensure the activations run smoothly and guests are using them properly.

Areas include: VR welding, vortex simulator, Masterkidz wall, and rigamajig area. Focus will be primarily on the vortex simulator, but it will be key to rotate throughout the areas. The vortex simulator allows guests to pick between driving a forklift, crane, or excavator, and is a simulation for the difficulty around operating these machines. 

In this opportunity, you'll have the chance to:

This opportunity will have two time slots available to volunteer for. One between 10 Am and 1 pm and one between 1 pm and 3 pm. The opportunity will state whether it is the AM or PM timeslot, and you can sign up for one or both. 

Reporting Managers: Maddie Bemrose, Patrick Herbert

Exhibit Location:  Upper galleries, the area is mainly across from the VR area. The vortex simulator is across from the birdly VR area.

BLUprint highlights the connection between the professional trades and STEAM, allowing our guests to experience parts of the job within the skill trades and learning about the science within them. In this opportunity, you will have the opportunity to help facilitate our indoor bluprint space (within open studio) and help ensure the activations run smoothly and guests are using them properly.

Areas include: VR welding, vortex simulator, Masterkidz wall, and rigamajig area. Focus will be primarily on the vortex simulator, but it will be key to rotate throughout the areas. The vortex simulator allows guests to pick between driving a forklift, crane, or excavator, and is a simulation of the difficulty of operating these machines. 

In this opportunity, you'll have the chance to:

This opportunity will have two time slots available to volunteer for. One between 10 Am and 1 pm and one between 1 pm and 3 pm. The opportunity will state whether it is the AM or PM timeslot, and you can sign up for one or both. 

Reporting Managers: Maddie Bemrose, Patrick Herbert

Exhibit Location:  Upper galleries, the area is mainly across from the VR area. The vortex simulator is across from the birdly VR area.

Come learn and play in C.K.M.!

Welcome to the Creative Kids Museum the area of Spark dedicated to our youngest guests ages 0-8. Have an interest in early childhood development and activity facilitation? This is the opportunity for you! The activity is a shadow puppet activity that utilizes the theatre space in the CKM. Play with the puppets and kids and help them learn about what exactly a shadow is, colours, and properties of opaque, translucent, and transparent objects. 

While volunteering for this opportunity you will coordinate the following:

Training will be provided and you will run the activation once you are comfortable. 

Reporting Managers: Brandon Lam / Maddie Bemrose 

Exhibit Location: Main Floor behind front of house desk, down the hall

This opportunity is for our take it apart station where guests have a chance to use tools to take apart various devices and see what the components inside are.  Guests can then take items such as motors to the circuit station next to take it apart and test if they can get them to run!

In this opportunity, you will have the chance to help guide guests as they take apart various items to discover the electronic parts within them. Help explain to kids what basic electronic parts are, such as resistors, capacitors, LED lights, microchips, and motors. Motors can then be tested at the circuit station, next to take it apart to see if they still work. In this activation, you'll have the chance to do the following:

This opportunity offers the chance for you to learn about basic electronics and help teach that knowledge to guests. This may be the first time guests use tools such as a screwdriver, and it can be helpful to have someone guide them through proper tool use and wearing PPE. 

Training will be provided. You will run the activation independently once you feel comfortable.

Reporting Managers: Maddie Bemrose

Exhibit Location: Upper Level, across from the VR zone

Welcome to Open Studio, the area of Spark where various hands-on exhibits allow guests to explore through inquiry-based learning. The parachute tubes traditionally have pre-made parachutes that guests are able to put in and try. This activity you will get the chance to facilitate an activation where you'll help guests make parachutes out of various materials and test them! Explore creativity and ingenuity in this engineering challenge! 

Volunteering here you will guide guests through parachute creation and provide the following services:

Please come and join us for this opportunity where you can improve your science communication and education skills while helping guests to participate in the iterative design process.

Training will be provided. You will run the activation independently once you feel comfortable.

Reporting Managers: Brandon Lam, Maddie Bemrose

Exhibit Location: Upper level, Open Studio, across from Steven's lab.

This area of Spark allows guests to learn and explore the human body. This activation includes two activities. The first one is about how humans see and perceive colour with an additional focus on colour blindness. The second explores our sense of touch. 

Ever wonder how humans can see colours? Humans are known as trichromats, meaning people with full-spectrum colour vision have 3 types of cells in their eyes that allow them to perceive colour. This activation will help both you and the guests learn about colour blindness. What does it mean to be colour blind? How do colour blind people see the world in comparison to those with full-spectrum vision? Through the use of an app on an iPad, you'll be able to help guests "see" similarly to those with colour blindness. 

Did you know our sense of touch is one of the first senses humans develop while in utero? Through touch our brains perceive the world around us and help keep us safe. Two activities within this activation will allow guests to explore their sense of touch. We have a box with mismatched blocks that guests will have to sort into pairs while wearing a blind fold. In the second, guests will roll a die and have to select an item from the mystery box that fits what they roll. For example, if they rolled "rough," they will have to find something "rough" in the mystery box.

In this opportunity, you'll have the chance to:

Training will be provided, and you will run the activation once you are comfortable. 

Reporting Managers: Brandon Lam / Maddie Bemrose 

Exhibit Location: Upper floor. Can set up in and around the bed of nails or anywhere around Being Human. Items for the activation will be kept in the prototype lab and Steven's lab. You will have help gathering materials and with setup.

Being Human is the part of Spark where guests have the chance to learn more about the science within their bodies. The bed of nails is one of the most well-known exhibits at Spark! This opportunity showcases the science behind the bed of nails through the use of a mini version. Explain to guests the relationship between area and pressure and why lying on the bed of nails doesn't hurt!

By volunteering for this opportunity, you will have the chance to:

Training will be provided. You will run the activation independently once you feel comfortable.

Reporting Managers: Maddie Bemrose, Brandon Lam

Exhibit Location: Upper Level, set up will be near the bed of nails exhibit. Items will be stored at Steven's lab in a bin. Assistance will be provided for setup.

Welcome to Guest Relations

Creating an experience has never been so important as the first 30 seconds when you enter a venue, being able to carry that momentum for the remainder of your experience and beyond. Volunteering with our FOH (Front of House) team is one of our most rewarding opportunities to engage and immerse yourself with the community.

Assisting at the Front of House, you'll take part in the following:

Knowledge of the building can be learned by volunteering here, as the Front of House has become the hub for all the information that is occurring in the building, and where to locate it. If you adore interacting with people from all over the world, you'll love volunteering at FOH.

Reporting Managers: Kylie Penney

Exhibit Location: Main Floor at the Main Entrance

Ro5ie – Robot Coa5ter Activities Volunteer

This innovative experience is sure to give the robotics gurus and thrill seekers a ride like no other. Ro5ie is Canada’s first single-arm, indoor, 3-seater roller coaster experience. Providing 5 levels of ride simulations to choose from. Volunteering at Ro5ie will allow you to stretch your knowledge of robotics, as you interact with some of our fun robot gadgets!

Here you can engage guests with our Ro5ie Jr Robot, and or show them the fun world of our tracer bots!

Welcome to the future of roller coasters. Welcome to a new era of excitement!

Reporting Managers: Paige Martineau and Maddie Bemrose

Location: Main Floor, on the South side of the Atrium      

Instructing the players in line with what the safety guidelines are.Assisting with loading in and loading out participatesPlease become part of this exciting VR experience, as we educate through play and curiosity.

Training Will be providedReporting Managers: Brandon Lam / Maddie Bemrose

Program Support Volunteer

The Prototype Project at Spark is a semester-long program that includes a combination of classroom visits and in-person visits to TELUS Spark Science Centre, with a final showcase where students can share what they created with friends and family!

Guided by Spark Science Educators and mentors from the science, technology, engineering, arts, and math (STEAM) fields, students build their own science centre experience prototypes, inspired by the interactive experiences seen at TELUS Spark. Plus, they learn about the design-thinking process, receive mentoring and feedback from the Spark team, and explore a STEAM subject of their choosing.

As a volunteer, you will mentor groups of 3-4 children in grades 4, 5, 6, or 9 through the development of their Prototype Projects. Depending on the day, you may work with different grades at various stages of the project timeline.

Expectations of this role: 

On January 14th, the Celebration of Learning is the final event of Prototype Project, a semester-long program that includes a combination of classroom visits and in-person visits to TELUS Spark Science Centre.

The Celebration of Learning is the final showcase where students can share what they created over the semester with friends and family!   

As a volunteer, you will be helping with the setup of the event, guiding families and students to their assigned tables, assisting throughout the night, and helping with the clean up!  

Shift time: 4:45 pm - 8 pm

Spark Eatery - Hospitality at it's best :)

We are seeking volunteers to assist at the Spark Eatery. Here are some of the tasks involved:
- Wiping down tables
- Transporting dirty dishes/trays from the tray drop station to the dishwashing area
- Offering basic directions to guests
- Assisting kitchen staff with sorting and other kitchen-related tasks
Additionally, please note the following requirement:
- Ability to stand and walk for extended periods

*Please wear closed toed shoes*

Feel free to sign up for volunteer shifts that suit your schedule, and don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions or concerns!

**We also need your help for school PD days and holidays. Please let us know if you are available. Thanks!**

Reporting Manager: Robin Rong 
Location: Upstairs beside Sparks business office

Take-It-Apart Material Prep Helper

Have you ever wondered what it looks like to be a behind-the-scenes helper? In this role, you'll work with the TELUS  Sparks exhibits team to prep electronics for the famous take-it-apart table in Open Studio! 

You'll be disassembling electronics, removing the glass, resistors, and other components, then reassembling them to send out on the floor for guests.

Required PPE for this role: 

Location: P-Lab 

This opportunity suggests that we have a consistent volunteer come in weekly to meet the demands. 

Come learn and play in C.K.M.

Do you have a desire for early childhood education? CKM (Creative Kids Museum) is not only the place to build on your existing education but also to understand brain development in our young guests from age 0-8 years of age. This exhibit also allows our younger guests to explore all the exciting content occurring at Spark, but at a pace they can interact with and succeed by asking all the questions they can muster up. 

While volunteering in CKM, you have the opportunity to assist with the following:

Other tasks may involve interacting and demonstrating to our curious guests and families how exhibits are used.

Training Will be provided

*Please wear closed-toed shoes*

Reporting Managers: Brandon Lam / Maddie Bemrose 

Exhibit Location: Main Floor behind front of house desk, down the hall

A delightful metamorphosis has taken place...
Hold on to your lab coats! The Open Studio Workshop has evolved into Steven’s Lab, a place set out to inspire the next generation of innovators through creative hands-on experiences with real scientific tools. Through live experiments and cutting-edge knowledge, Steven's Lab is where the future of science will come to life.

Dr. Steven Keating was a brilliant mechanical engineer and passionate advocate for patient access to health data. His unwavering curiosity, resilience, and commitment to innovation left a lasting impact. In his honor, the Keating Family has generously funded the creation of Steven’s Lab, inspiring others to push boundaries and have a positive impact on the world.

Volunteer roles in Steven's Lab:
Volunteering in Steven's Lab is a great way to practice your science communication skills with the public. Topics rotate in Steven's Lab every 2 to 3 months, which provides opportunities to learn about various areas of science. Volunteer roles in the lab include signing up guests for time slots, talking to guests about the science behind the experiment, helping guests with experiments, resetting experiments, and cleaning up. Prior lab experience is an asset, but it isn't required. Some experiments involve chemicals and will require chemical safety training before handling.

The Dress Code:

All staff and volunteers in Steven's Lab are required to wear long pants and enclosed footwear for safety reasons. Volunteers will wear a Steven's Lab-branded lab coat while working in the space. When working with chemicals, it is essential to tie long hair back. Any required PPE (gloves, respirators, safety glasses etc.) will be provided.

The Current Experiment: The Crawling Dead (Worm Dissections)

Curious about biology and hands-on lab work? in Steven’s Lab, where we’re currently conducting worm dissections! You’ll get the chance to observe and assist with real dissections while learning about worm anatomy and their fascinating body systems.  

Warning: This activity involves exposure to preserved biological specimens and the use of sharp tools. If you're squeamish around dissection or sensitive to smells, this may not be the right fit.

Times:
Sunday to Friday: 10:00 AM – 2:30 PM

Saturday: 10:00 AM – 3:30 PM

Reporting Manager: Maddie Bemrose
Location: 2nd Floor in Open Studio