Monthly Archives: June 2018

K-8 Students and Parents: Learn About FIRST LEGO League Robotics, June 20

Events, Opportunities

Students in Grades K-8 — and their parents — are invited to learn about FIRST Lego League (FLL) and Junior FLL at FLL Info Night, hosted by the Newton LigerBots on June 20, 7-9PM in Newton North HS’s Film Lecture Hall (on the left of the main lobby on Tiger Drive).  At the event, students and parents can learn more about FLL and what roles students can play on FLL teams, such as being a researcher, coder, or engineer, and they can meet others who are interested in forming FLL teams. The meeting is aimed primarily at parents, but kids are also welcome to come and learn more about the FLL program and participate in STEM-related activities.

FLL is a competition for Grades 4-8, and Junior FLL is a project-based program for Grades K-3. FLL teams build and program LEGO robots, and they undertake a project to brainstorm and present creative solutions to real life problems related to each year’s FIRST theme. This year, the theme is space and the FLL game is “Into Orbit.”

The LigerBots — Newton’s FIRST Robotics team, spanning both high schools — offers this information session as a community service, in part because FLL is a great introduction to the engineering, teamwork, and project skills that make great future LigerBots. The LigerBots also support FLL by mentoring local FLL teams, hosting FLL competitions, and promoting the principles of FIRST. A Newton FLL team, the Day Dragons, which won the Eastern Massachusetts Championship this year, will assist the LigerBots in this presentation. For more information, visit ligerbots.org/fll or email fll@ligerbots.com.

Ivy Seed Summer Camp for iOS App Development at Harvard/MIT

Summer

Ivy Seed Academy will offer a summer course, iOS Mobile App Development Camp, for students 8-17 years old with any level of programming ability. One-week sessions will be held as follows:

  • At Harvard:  July 9-13 for ages 10-13; July 16-20 for ages 13-17; July 23-27 for girls ages 10-15.
  • At MIT:  July 30-August 3 for ages 8-15; August 6-10 for ages 10-17.

For more information, contact camp director Jenny Wu at 617-816-3462 or contact@ivy-seed.com.

Breakthrough Junior Challenge: Videos Due July 1

Opportunities

The Breakthrough Junior Challenge is an annual global competition for high school science and math students to inspire creative thinking about fundamental concepts in the natural sciences and mathematics. Students 13-18 years old are invited to create an original video — up to 3 minutes, illustrating a concept or theory in life sciences, physics, or mathematics — and submit it by July 1. One winner will receive a $250,000 educational prize, the winner’s science teacher will receive $50,000, and the winner’s school will receive a $100,000 science lab.

‘Science and Us’ Conference for Grades 9-12 at BU, June 9

Events

Science and Us is a free, one-day conference for high-school students to learn about STEM and explore how complex concepts can be explained in exciting, understandable ways. It will be held on June 9, 9:30AM-4:30PM, at Boston University’s Metcalf Science Center (590 Commonwealth Ave.). Register here. The conference is being organized by Boston-area high-school students to help high school students understand “multi-disciplinary, emerging careers in communication and … create their own work that explains technical concepts in clear, exciting ways.” It will feature presentations, panel discussions, and hands-on workshops led by scientists, journalists, and other creators. If you’d like to be one of the speakers, panelists, or workshop presenters, see this information on the schedule and objectives of the conference and email contact@scienceandus.org. To become a sponsor of the conference, see this information and email contact@scienceandus.org.

Coding Butterfly Opens in Newton, Offers Free 3D Class in June

Opportunities

Coding Butterfly is an after-school and weekend educational program in coding and robotics for Grades 2-8, with locations in Brighton and now Newton (132 Charles Street, Suite 200, Auburndale). It offers personalized instruction and hands-on learning in Scratch for beginners as well as Python, JavaScript, and 3D Design. To celebrate the opening of its Newton location, Coding Butterfly will offer 40 free seats to 3D classes in June for ages 8-13. Reservations are required.