Media releases

• Brock University to mark solar eclipse with free community event

  Tuesday, February 27, 2024 | By Brock University

  MEDIA RELEASE: February 22 2024 – R0022

  The Niagara community is invited to join Brock University experts and special guests in celebrating a rare celestial spectacle.

  On Monday, April 8, a total solar eclipse will take place over southern Ontario, with the moon passing between the Earth and the sun, blocking the sun completely and turning the sky dark enough to see the stars.

  This rare astronomical event will be a once-in-a-lifetime experience for many. The last time a total solar eclipse occurred over Ontario was in 1979, and the next one won’t happen again over the province until 2099.

  As Niagara is one of the few places in North America expected to experience the April 8 eclipse, Brock University is preparing for the cosmic phenomenon by offering a free community event.

  Hosted by the Faculty of Mathematics and Science, Eclipse on the Escarpment will feature a variety of educational exhibits beginning at noon in Ian Beddis Gymnasium led by Brock researchers, educators and experts in Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science, Earth Sciences, English Language and Literature, Interactive Arts and Science, Physics and more.

  Following the informational demonstrations and discussions, a community viewing of the total solar eclipse — expected to take place from 3:18 p.m. to 3:21 p.m. — will take place on Alumni Field.

  Experienced faculty and staff will be available to discuss the eclipse and help guide the use of on-site viewing apparatuses, such as pinhole projectors and Sun Spotter solar telescopes. Complimentary certified eclipse glasses will be available (while quantities last) to safely view the eclipse. Participants are encouraged to bring their own should they have them.

  “The eclipse is a wonderful opportunity for Brock University to engage members of the local community in math and science,” says Department of Physics Chair and Professor Thad Harroun, who is leading the organization of Brock’s eclipse event and outreach efforts. “The educational exhibits will feature interesting topics related to the eclipse and our solar system, and our place within it. Our researchers and experts are looking forward to talking about their work and sharing their passions with others.”

  Anyone interested in attending Eclipse on the Escarpment is asked to register for free via ExperienceBU or email eclipse2024@brocku.ca

  Paid visitor parking is available on campus via the HONK app.

  Guests from across North America will be joining Brock scientists in experiencing the eclipse. Representatives from the SETI Institute, Niagara Geopark, Niagara College Photonics program and others will be on campus with telescopes and other instruments to gather data and observe the eclipse.

  The University’s experts will also be out in the Niagara community the day of the eclipse. Physics students will be supporting programming offered by Niagara Parks, and representatives from Brock’s Let’s Talk Science team will be leading eclipse-related activities as part of the City of Port Colborne’s programming.

  The University’s Physics department has also collaborated with the District School Board of Niagara in the filming of informational videos to assist DSBN teachers in educating their students about the eclipse.

  In addition to certified solar eclipse glasses being available in the Ian Beddis Gymnasium beginning at noon, Brock community members and event visitors can pick up a free pair of glasses (while quantities last) Monday, April 8 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at one of several on-campus locations:

  • Brock University Students’ Union desk
  • Cairns Complex welcome desk
  • Hungry Badger in Walker Sports Complex
  • Rankin Family Pavilion welcome desk
  • Thistle Hall, across from the Brock Card service desk at the top of the stairs leading down to Market Hall
  • Walker Sports Complex welcome desk

  Looking directly at the sun with the naked eye or through any device or filter other than certified eclipse glasses may result in permanent damage and even blindness. Information on how to view the solar eclipse safely, as well as additional event details, can be found on Brock’s eclipse event website.

  For more information or for assistance arranging interviews: 

  * Doug Hunt, Communications and Media Relations Specialist, Brock University dhunt2@brocku.ca or 905-941-6209

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  Categories: Media releases

• Brock experts discuss disappearing languages, early learning ahead of International Mother Language Day

  Thursday, February 15, 2024 | By Brock University

  EXPERT ADVISORY: February 15 2024 – R0021

  Brock University experts are hoping to shine light on the alarming rate at which the world’s languages are disappearing — and on the importance of preserving them.

  The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, which commemorates International Mother Language Day on Wednesday, Feb. 21, says a language disappears every two weeks, leaving an estimated 45 per cent of the world’s 7,000 spoken languages endangered.

  Brock Associate Professor of Modern Languages, Literatures and Cultures Jean Ntakirutimana, who speaks the central-east African languages of Kirundi, Kiswahili and Kinyarwanda as well as French and English, calls the disappearance of languages a “big loss for humanity,” as each language is an intergenerational “database of knowledge.”

  “Each culture has a way of understanding, and expressing, the world around them: the fauna, flora, the people, everything,” he says. “We learn how to interact with the environment around us — how to maintain and take care of it and how that environment can be beneficial for us.”

  Ntakirutimana notes how maps showing endangered ecosystems line up with maps where languages are in various stages of becoming extinct.

  Replacing local languages with dominant, foreign languages can cause confusion, Ntakirutimana says. He recalls being taught in elementary school about the four seasons in French (printemps, été, automne and hiver) — concepts he couldn’t grasp well as a child because Burundi has only a rainy and a dry season.

  Despite the challenges, Ntakirutimana sees signs of a linguistic revival in Africa and elsewhere. Communications technologies are evolving and increasingly connecting people who speak the same language, he says, and new languages are evolving, especially among youth.

  Sherri Vansickle, Assistant Professor in Brock’s Indigenous Educational Studies program, who is from Onondaga Nation, Eel Clan, says that, along with celebrating Mother Language Day, there is also a grief process for Indigenous communities mourning their language loss.

  “Many Indigenous people in Canada don’t speak their mother language because of Indian Residential Schools,” she says. “Every time a language speaker passes on, it’s like losing a library to the Indigenous community.”

  Vansickle says many residential school survivors would not teach Indigenous languages to their grandchildren as a way of protecting the next generation from the harms they endured themselves.

  Through the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and its calls to action, Vansickle says there is a renewed hope Indigenous languages will be preserved. She notes that the Mohawk, Cayuga and Nishnawbe languages are taught at Brock University.

  “As educators, we make sure to always use Indigenous words: Skén:nen (peace), Kariwiio (power) and Kasastensera (righteousness),” she says. “Transmitting these foundational concepts to students gives us hope that future generations are learning about the formation of the confederacy.”

  For Associate Professor of Applied Linguistics Lynn Dempsey, educating children early in their mother tongue forms a strong base for subsequent language and brain development.

  Knowledge of grammar, sounds and conversational and storytelling skills children acquire in their mother tongue will transfer to other languages such as English, especially when the mother language has a similar sound system to the second language, she says.

  “It’s not just spoken language skills that transfer,” says Dempsey. “Research shows that skills in the mother language transfer to reading and writing in a second language. For example, early experience with books in the first language predicts reading comprehension in a second language later on.”

  Bilingual children seem to be better at “executive functions,” or switching attention between different aspects of a task, says Dempsey, adding they are “better at tasks that involve ‘tuning in’ to the sounds of language.

  “For example, they can count the number of sounds in a word better than monolingual children. Being able to ‘tune in’ to speech sounds helps children learn to read,” she says.

  Jean Ntakirutimana, Brock University Associate Professor of Modern Languages, Literatures and Cultures; Sherri Vansickle, Assistant Professor in Brock’s Indigenous Educational Studies program; and Lynn Dempsey, Associate Professor of Applied Linguistics are available for media interviews on the topic.

  For more information or for assistance arranging interviews:

  * Doug Hunt, Communications and Media Relations Specialist, Brock University dhunt2@brocku.ca or 905-941-6209

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  Categories: Media releases