The Faculty of Science鈥檚 Departments and Schools offer many events, activities and resources to help students explore science and how it can help them develop their skill set and knowledge.
If you are interested in booking a school group Science Tour, please contact us below.
The Biology Greenhouse is a teaching and research facility in the . While many plants are grown in the short term for research studies, the permanent collection is used in plant biology classes offered by the Biology Department and for outreach to local schools and the public.
The Greenhouse, with its 780 square meters under glass, houses a richly diverse collection of live plants encompassing more than 217 species in 150 genera from over 77 plant families. The plant collection contains bamboo, insect-eating cobra plants, a chocolate tree, a coffee tree, a palm tree, sugarcane, cycads, bananas and more!
Please contact Dr. Susan Dudley if interested in touring the Greenhouse. Also, check out their Instagram page!
In this workshop offered by the听, high school students can have a 鈥渉ands-on鈥� experience performing molecular genetic experiments with the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. The five-hour workshop, including a one-hour break for lunch, teaches students about听. To find out more,听contact Dr. Elizabeth Weretilnyk.
The Department of Chemistry & Chemical Biology has launched an exciting new outreach program for Grade 11 and 12 students: 尝颈驳丑迟,听Matter听& Chemistry, an immersive, hands-on lab and campus experience inspired by university-level听spectroscopy and analytical techniques used in chemistry听谤别蝉别补谤肠丑.听
Students will work with flame emission, spectrophotometers, fluorescence, and chromatography to explore how matter interacts with light and how chemists analyze the world at the atomic and molecular scale.
This experience will be offered annually beginning in April 2026.
This show runs about three times a year 鈥� once in February and October (virtually) and once in person (late November/early December)
This is a made-at-McMaster show that introduces audiences of all ages to the magic of chemistry. Magic with Molecules is the flagship community outreach event for the Department of Chemistry & Chemical Biology. This show combines education with entertainment to build science literacy and inspire the next generation of scientists.
Please contact Anthony Chibba or Sharonna Greenberg for more information.
This is a lab designed here at McMaster for high school students to come and investigate how to identify different plastics based on their properties, and ways we can break down plastics into their base monomers.
Opportunities to come and try this experiment usually run in late April/early May
Please contact Sharonna Greenberg or Kylie Luska听for more information.
Hosted by the School of Earth, Environment & Society, this event fulfills part of the Ontario geography curriculum for grades 9, 11 and 12 students.
The annual GIS Day assists in raising the visibility of the field of geomatics among high school students and their teachers.
Students can participate in various hands-on computer activities with ArcView, GPS and Map Skills.
Grade 11 and 12 high school classes are invited to visit McMaster University and participate in any of the following lectures during the school year.
EARTHSC 1G03 鈥� Earth and the Environment ENVIRSC 1C03 鈥� Climate, Water and Environment ENVSOCTY 1HA3 鈥� Society, Culture and Environment ENVSOCTY 1HB3 鈥� Population, Cities and Development ENVSOCTY 2EI3 鈥� Environment & Society: Challenges and Solutions EARTHSC 2GG3 鈥� Natural Disasters
Please contact听berniejm@mcmaster.ca听for more information.
You can have a graduate student in the School of Earth, Environment & Society visit your high school classroom and give a presentation. (Only available to schools within a 25 km radius of McMaster University.)
Your students can learn firsthand how science (whether it be biology, chemistry or physics) can be applied to the physical environment. They can also learn about the numerous career opportunities associated with a B.Sc. in Earth and Environmental Sciences.
For more information, please contact听Luc Bernier.
Rocks formed all over the world can be found in our McMaster gardens, pathways, and architecture. By observing different features of a rock, one can learn a lot about the environment in which it was deposited.
Geologists use these features as clues to help reconstruct past environments, and to predict where important resources are!
LIFESCI for a day Visits: (January 鈥� March)
The best way to know if the Faculty of Science, and a future in the Life Sciences Program is for you is to visit!
Take advantage of our LIFESCI for a Day Program:
Prospective students (that’s you!) will be matched with a 2nd-year Honours Life Sciences Program student ambassador with similar interests. This student ambassador will be your host for the day. Visits will normally start in the morning before the first class (8:30 am). The hosting ambassador will arrange to meet you at a specific time and location on McMaster’s main campus. The visit would then continue throughout the day to experience classes taken by students in the program, along with McMaster campus life.
Please click the link below to register for the 鈥淟IFESCI for a day鈥� program.
ISCI for a day Visits: (January 鈥� March)
The best way to know if iSci is the program for you is to visit!听 Take advantage of our iSci for a Day Program:
Prospective students will be matched up with a first-year iSci student ambassador with similar interests who will host them for the day. Visits will normally start in the morning before the first class. The iSci host and prospective student will make arrangements at a specific time and location, and the visit will then continue throughout the day to experience first-year classes and/or labs along with the McMaster campus.
Please click the link below to register for the to register for the 鈥渋Sci for a day鈥� program.
The Integrated Science Program (iSci) within the School of Interdisciplinary Science (SIS) strives to be an accessible, supportive, and inclusive community. As part of our efforts to acknowledge and minimize systemic and structural barriers in the program, we have introduced an Equitable Admissions for Black Applicants (EABA) process for our Level 1 applicants as part of the mandatory supplementary application. The purposes of this process are to reduce barriers that might discourage Black-identifying applicants from applying to the iSci program and to mitigate the potential for unconscious bias to influence evaluation of supplementary applications.
The EABA is open to applicants who self-identify as Black (including Black African, Black Caribbean/West Indian, Black North American, Black/Afro-Latinx, multi-racial students who have Black ancestry that they identify with, and other Black identities).
This is an听optional听application stream for Black applicants.
To learn more about the process and associated resources, please read our听.
The Kinesiology Community Outreach Program aims to introduce Kinesiology to elementary school youth in a positive and interactive manner that is aligned with several of HWDSB鈥檚 system priorities. Our initiative will give students the opportunity to foster an interest in the field of science through fun, interactive, and engaging activities designed to share fundamental concepts in Kinesiology. We are committed to creating an enjoyable environment through the friendly and enthusiastic attitudes of our team members, and by using positive role models as examples in our research.
We will visit your elementary school school free of charge to deliver interactive presentations from McMaster Kinesiology鈥檚 three main pillars: neuroscience, exercise physiology and motor control and biomechanics, consisting of both presentations and interactive components. The interactive components are fairly 鈥渓ow stakes鈥�, for example doing jumping jacks on the spot, using a Q-tip to touch the skin, and a number memory task interspersed with on-the-spot exercise.
Our Kinesiology tours are designed for senior-level students in the health and fitness area (e.g., 12 U Exercise Science, 12 U Biology, College Health and Wellness Courses). Tours last up to 120 minutes and are intended to introduce students to commonly used tests of human performance and body composition.
Hands-on/minds-on activities for students from Kindergarten to Grade 12 on all Science-related subjects.
Let’s Talk Science strives to improve science literacy through leadership, innovative educational programs, research and advocacy. We motivate and empower youth to use science, technology and engineering to develop critical skills, knowledge and attitudes needed to thrive in our world.
For all activities, please contact Outreach coordinators听Erin Clements听or听Miroslav Lovric.
Every year, we organize activities for visiting groups of high school students. For their half-day, or full-day stay at McMaster, we offer various activities, including: visiting a lecture in a first-year course; attending a lecture about math and its applications; conversation about what it takes to be a good math student; discussions with the students from the Math and Stats society; and a guided campus tour.
From time to time, upon invitation, we visit local high schools. Often, our visit includes discussions with math teachers and a lecture to students about mathematics, applications of mathematics, and jobs which involve mathematics. Please contact us if you wish to organize a visit.
Every March, we host a Math Kangaroo contest for grades 1-12. This is a fun contest, which involves working individually on math problems appropriate for the age (grade) of the contestants. Please visit听听for further information, and to see how to register. Registration for the contest opens in December.
This is a new competition, as of November 2023 and is open to students in grades 9-12. A couple of months before the contest, we will send an email to high school teachers and ask them to advertise the competition, encourage students to form groups (maximum three students per group), and send us the names of all students who will participate. The groups work on a number of math problems, ranging from straightforward to challenging.
The Department of Mathematics & Statistics has previously hosted and plans to again host, a Dialogue on Transition Issues with math teachers in the region. We invite teachers to share their insights and experiences about grade 12 math courses and we discuss how Level I math courses at McMaster have changed to adapt to changes in the high school mathematics curriculum.
If you are a grade 12 math teacher, math department head, guidance counselor or secondary school principal, we would welcome your attendance. We advertise this event via our email list of teachers in the broader Hamilton and Toronto areas.
The听听is an excellent resource for students who will be taking first-year calculus at university. It is strongly recommended that students work through this review during the summer months before their first semester at university.
McMaster Equitable Pathways to Learning University Sciences (MePLUS) is a year-long program built on mentorship, leadership opportunities and science workshops, which aims to provide access to, promote and demystify post-secondary education opportunities in STEM, specifically in the natural and physical sciences.
Its year-long programming brings high school students to campus for science workshops as well as leadership/personal development. MePLUS focuses on youth from equity-deserving groups, specifically Black, Indigenous and Latinx high school students in the local Hamilton and surrounding catchment areas.
Learn about planets, stars, galaxies, and other fascinating objects in our Universe, while stargazing in the Planetarium’s night sky.
The planetarium offers public and private shows, given primarily by graduate students and postdoctoral fellows of the Department of Physics and Astronomy at McMaster.
Take a tour of the McMaster Nuclear Reactor 鈥� by far the most powerful research reactor at a Canadian university.
The McMaster Nuclear Reactor offers complementary tours of the nuclear reactor facility to interested parties. Each tour is conducted by a trained guide or Nuclear Operations & Facilities staff member and is approximately 60 to 90 minutes in duration.
Tours are available Monday 鈥� Friday 9:00 AM 鈥� 4:30 PM. Saturday tours may be available occasionally 鈥� please enquire with your initial email.
Workshops are offered Tuesday/ Wednesday/ Thursday during select weeks during Reading Break and exams, and are delivered by Physics and Astronomy graduate students.
The following workshops are offered, with the appropriate grade levels noted:
All workshops are approximately 1 hour, and cost $169.50 (i.e., $150 + HST). Maximum 30 students per group.
We invite you to take a peek at Hamilton鈥檚 night sky through a telescope with weekly observing nights hosted by听.
Like us on 听and follow us on听 for announcements about observing events. McMaster’s Sidewalk Astronomy is a School of Graduate Studies program.
Fishing For Science is a science outreach program in collaboration between the Aquatic Behavioural Ecology Laboratory (ABEL) from the Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour, and Let鈥檚 Talk Science (LTS).
The program runs annually with grades 6 to 8 students from high-priority schools in Hamilton. Volunteers from ABEL and LTS run hands-on activities related to sustainability, water quality, and biodiversity while connecting these concepts to conservation activities and research in Hamilton Harbour. The program involves classroom visits and a field trip to Pier 4 Park, where students catch fish, weigh and measure invasive round gobies, and use microscopes.
The Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour is proud to host the Annual Hamilton Brain Bee, a neuroscience challenge for high school students in the Hamilton-Halton area (including Ancaster, Burlington, Dundas, Grimsby, Hamilton, and Stoney Creek).
During the competition, students demonstrate their knowledge about the brain and neuroscience, including fascinating topics like memory, stress, movement, addiction, sleep, and neurological disorders. Students in grades 9-12 are welcome, and registration is free!
The LIVELab is a 106-seat research-based performance theatre and testing centre. In addition to neuroscientific research, the LIVELab encourages the creative use of technology in unique music and multi-media performances.
Go behind the scenes at LIVELab! Free behind-the-scenes public tours for groups and individuals are offered by LIVELab students and staff throughout the year. Tours are held monthly and take approximately 45 minutes. Email livelab@mcmaster.ca听for upcoming tour dates.
High school classes also can attend a first-year Introductory Psychology lecture on campus!