They’ve billed it as an arts/science expo but really, it’s a careers day event with a strong focus on science and industries such as entertainment media and mining. It’s being hosted by the Year of Science (a BC government initiative) and held from 10 am to 7 pm today, May 17, 2011, at the Royal British Columbia Museum. The sponsors for the event are Pfizer and an organization named, Canada’s research-based pharmaceutical companies. (For those who don’t know, Pfizer is a pharmaceuticals company.)

I was excited until I read the programme and realized it’s pretty much like to going to Science World. You can ooh and aah at the exhibits and demos but there’s nothing really engaging for either a child or an adult. It contrasts strongly with some of the projects I see elsewhere as I noted in my March 3, 2011 posting where amongst others, I profiled Blackawton bees, a paper that was peer-reviewed and published in the highly reputable Royal Society’s Biology Letters. The authors ranged in age from eight to 10 years old. They were not in a gifted class but they were being taught by a scientist who decided that the best way to share his passion for science was to encourage these kids to ask their own science question and answer it through experimentation.

‘Show and tell’ science events can be quite pleasurable and informative but there are other ways engage in and share science which you’d never know by attending a science event in BC.