IKPIARJUK/ARCTIC BAY - A science camp from southern Canada visited Arctic Bay for two weeks, bringing with them a range of hands-on science exhibits for students to touch, enjoy, and learn from.

Tapia Attiu, Aaron Killabuck, Mikey Iquarilu, Kyle Intiq and Chris Akeeagook shine a light into the eye of this torso dummy. - photo courtesy of Dale Campsall

"One of the neatest ones is a blow-up planetarium," said Alex Kleiner, one of the instructors from Elephant Thoughts. "It's shaped like an iglu. It's shaped like a big dome. One of the teachers was showing me the shadow puppets they used to do (in iglus)."

A planetarium is a system where a special projector puts an image across a dome ceiling. The most common use is to simulate the night sky, but Kleiner's machine also included other images such as the structure of a body's cell and maps with the migration routes of birds. The dome was seven metres in diameter, enough to accommodate around 30 kids.

"The Arctic tern goes 20,000 kilometres in a year," said Kleiner. "Its pathway goes through Arctic Bay and Pond Inlet."

Elephant Thoughts is a Canadian charity that supports education in aboriginal communities across the country but also abroad. This was the group's second trip to Arctic Bay, and afterward they went for two weeks to Pond Inlet for the first time.

During last year's trip to Arctic Bay, the only image for the planetarium was the night sky, crowned by the North Star.

"... Everybody wanted to see it again," said Kleiner. "The North Star, the translation is 'the star that doesn't move.' The kids get it right away because the translation is exactly what it is."

Thirteen-year-old Michael Inutiq was interested in the owl pellets they had brought. The pellets are the part of an owl's food the bird can't digest, and so it coughs up a wad of rodent fur and bones.

Fifteen-year-old Rosalie Oqallaq liked the elastic semi-liquid "goo" that was formed after you mix two chemicals.

Another exhibit was a transparent plastic model of a human digestive system. Students would massage the esophagus and stomach to force some food through the plastic system. The stomach was filled with vinegar to soften the food just like real stomach acid. After that comes the intestine and then the inevitable emptying of the bowel.

"They loved that. There's a tiny little hole at the bottom and they have to squeeze it out," laughed Kleiner. "So we can talk about constipation and diarrhea and they get it because they have it right in their hands."