WINNIPEG, Man.-Meet Simon Monteith. He's a nine-year-old Opaskwayak Cree Nation boy from Manitoba who is passionate about science.
"I like being curious and finding out new things," said Simon has told reporters.
Simon's curiousity has led him to create more than 60 You Tube videos doing just that-finding out about new things and sharing what he learns with others, under the YouTube moniker "Simon the Scientist."
Simon's experiments with videos started during the pandemic. He had no idea what COVID was. So he learned. And he decided to share his newfound knowledge. So his first video, created during the pandemic, appropriately, featured the youth explaining how COVID–19 spreads.
Since then, his subjects have grown to be as diverse as exploring density, wondering about the origins of things like superpowers, talking about how the body works together, contemplating the stars, and even walking into the world of assistive devices. He hits on things kids are sure to love, like animal droppings, animal furs, and volcanoes. His experiments use simple household items from cleaning materials to Easter candy.
Simon says he likes to explore things from at least two perspectives. For instance a feather on display leads to a discussion on flight-as well as to the Indigenous concept of a feather representing respect.
Each episode is simple. Simon sits in his kitchen, chats, sometimes in dialogue with his mother, and show experiments. While he talks and works on one part of the screen, a woman signs the episode for those who are hearing impaired.
Jacqueline Monteith told Canadian Press that her son has always had the ability to understand complex concepts in an original way.
"It's fascinating that a kid has a unique ability to teach scientific concepts or complex concepts to other children in a very unique way. Kids teaching kids is a way that children will understand as opposed to adults trying to teach children," she said. "It's within Simon to reach out in a way that's original, that's understandable for all audiences," said Simon's mom Jacqueline.
Simon is now a semi-finalist in the Canada-wide Powwow Pitch, a contest made to help Indigenous entrepreneurs with a $25,000 reward, which he says he'd use to create a youth support fund and help promote other people's ideas, too, especially those who are under-represented in the science field. "(I want to) help support the ideas of other kids so they can do what they want, which might not be science or might be science, but I want to help kids find their dream."
While he waits to hear whether or not he has won the contest, he still cranks out the YouTube videos. "I want to make Simon the Scientist big enough that everybody can see it, even Indigenous people further north," Simon told Canadian Press. "They can be inspired and do what they want to do."
