iCode of Wellesley will offer half-day and full-day camps during December school vacation: December 23, 24, 26, 27, and 30. Camps include Robotics, Digital Arts & Media, Game Design, VR, Science Experiments, Electronics, Drones & Girls-Only. Pre-register here. For more information, email wellesley@icodeschool.com or call 781-291-3131.
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Sign Up for Harvard SEAS Free Holiday Lecture for Families, Dec. 7
Harvard’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences hosts an annual Holiday Lecture for families, free and open to the public (recommended for ages 7+). This year’s lecture, on Saturday, December 7, will be an interactive presentation, The Science of Ice Cream: It’s Legen-Dairy, in Science Center Lecture Hall B, 1 Oxford Street, Cambridge. Learn about the physics, chemistry, and biology of how ice cream is made. Register for either the 10AM or 1PM show to guarantee seating.
CEEO Engineering for Explorers Workshop, Grades 3-5, Dec. 7
Tuft’s Center for Engineering Education and Outreach (CEEO) will hold an Engineering for Explorers Workshop on December 7, 1PM-4PM, for Grades 3-5. The workshop will focus on designing, building, and testing boats and winter-time structures for explorers. It will take place at CEEO (200 Boston Avenue, Suite G810, in Medford). The cost is $10, which is a discounted rate as it will be led by first-time instructors, mentored by experienced CEEO staff. Registration is first-come, first-served.
Boston Tech Mom: Tech Events for Kids in December
Boston Tech Mom (“a parent’s guide to raising a future techie”) is a great resource for all things STEM around Boston — including her monthly posts about free or low-cost STEM Events for Kids in Boston. Here’s her Boston Tech Mom: Tech Events for Kids in December list of STEM events.
Empow Studios: Kids’ Night Out Workshop in Lexington, Dec. 4
In conjunction with Lexington’s Taste of Lexington night of local shopping and celebration on December 4, Empow Studios will host a drop-off Kids’ Night Out workshop, 6:45PM-8:15PM in its Lexington location (1776 Mass. Ave.), for kids in Grades 2-8 to design video games. No experience required. The cost is $30. Register here.
MassBay STEM Expo, Dec. 13
MassBay Community College will host its bi-annual STEM Expo, on December 11, 1PM-2PM in the cafeteria of its Wellesley Hills campus cafeteria (50 Oakland Street) to showcase the accomplishments of students and faculty. It’s free and open to the public. Topics include Engineering Design, Robotics, Game Programming, Cyber Security, Protein Purification, Biotechnology, and Statistics and Quantitative Reasoning.
LigerBots Host FLL Qualifying Tournament, and 2 Newton FLL Teams Proceed to State Championship
Yesterday, Newton’s award-winning high-school robotics team, the LigerBots, hosted a FIRST Lego League (FLL) qualifying tournament at Newton North High School for 34 FLL teams of students in Grades 4-8 from all over eastern Massachusetts, including eight teams based in Newton. From 9AM to 2PM, teams competed in robot matches and research presentations based on this year’s FLL theme, City Shaper (see video), after which there was a dance party and an award ceremony. Judges scored the teams on their design, research project, and robot performance. Eleven teams — including Newton’s Roaming Rovers, City Snakes, and Day Dragons — were awarded “golden tickets” to advance to the state championship. The LigerBots also hosted a Maker Fair, where students of all ages could see and interact with local STEAM experts and have hands-on experience applying science and engineering skills and concepts.
On December 14, the LigerBots will again host the Eastern Massachusetts FLL Championship tournament at Newton North HS, with more teams and more fun! That event will include a Maker Fair with local companies, more hands-on activities, and a Girl Scouts STEAM workshop. It’s all free and open to the public.
FSU Symposium: Sustainable Space, Sustainable Earth: From Ideas to Action, Dec. 6
As the final event in its 18-month Moon Landing in Context series, Framingham State University will present an interdisciplinary symposium, Sustainable Space, Sustainable Earth: From Ideas to Action, on December 6, 8:30AM-4PM, at FSU’s McCarthy Forum. The event will include a full day of presentations and panel discussions, breakfast and lunch, and a closing reception. It costs $25 for the general public and is free for the FSU community as well as undergraduate and graduate students from any institution. Registration is required.
- 9:15AM – 10:00AM: Impossible Journey: Apollo 11 to the Moon
- 10:00AM – 10:45AM: “For ALL Mankind…” Seeking a Sustainable Space Politics
- 11:00AM – 11:45AM: UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) and Space Sustainability
- 11:45AM – 12:20PM: How to Protect the Earth from an Asteroid Impact, an Introduction to Planetary Defense
- 1:00PM – 2:00PM: (Keynote) The Role of Space Technology to Support Sustainable Development
- 2:00PM – 3:15PM: Panel Discussions
- Sustainable Space, Sustainable Earth: A Bioethical Agenda
- The Power of Photography to Bear Witness to Our Planet
- Imagining Our Way to a Sustainable Future
- 3:15PM – 3:35PM: Report Back
Boston Tech Mom’s Annual STEM Gift Ideas
Boston Tech Mom has published her annual list of STEM Gift Ideas.
Code Ninjas (Wellesley) Events in December
Code Ninjas (161 Linden Street in Wellesley) will host the following events in December:
- Kids Night Out: Super Smash Bros Tournament: December 7, 5PM-8:30PM, for ages 4-6. $40
- Hour of Code: December 9, 4PM-5PM, for ages 6-10. December 13, 4PM-5PM, for ages 11-14. Register here.
- Holiday Hack-a-Thon: December 14, 1PM-4:30PM, ages 7-14. Teams of two will make games on Scratch. Requires some experience with Scratch and a new, unwrapped toy for Toys for Tots. Register here.